


Into the Storm

by TomBoyBookGirl



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety, Depression, F/M, Feels, Hiccstrid - Freeform, I seem to like torturing Hiccup, Name Changes, PTSD, Storm Chasing, You Have Been Warned, also people die, and hiccstrid, at least that's what me readers said, based on the movie 'Into the Storm', but who in this fandom doesn't/, chapter 9 apparently makes people cry, feels everywhere, into the storm, it's better than the movie trust me, lots of Hiccstrid, lots of feels, no one too major but still
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 09:10:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 49,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9812654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomBoyBookGirl/pseuds/TomBoyBookGirl
Summary: When Hiccup decided to help Astrid, his old friend and long time crush, with a school project, he didn't expect to be trapped under an abandoned factory when a tornado flattens it. Now severely injured, he and Astrid must fight their way out of their new found prison and get Hiccup some much needed medical attention. Their rescue becomes harder and harder to see when Valka, Stoick and Tommy have to fight through the massacre of a storm headed their way. But, even after the sky has cleared, they haven't left the storm. Yet.Warnings: This story contains swearing and PTSD, anxiety and depression in later chapters





	1. Busy day, can't you see that?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello AO3! I am... very new to this! This is my first time posting on here because I just got my account! This story is also on Wattpad and Fanfiction.net (I have the same username so it shouldn't be hard to find)!  
> Also, please excuse the writing in this chapter I started writing this fic almost 2 years ago the writing at the beginning is... meh.
> 
> Before this story starts, some of the characters have their names changed for a more modern setting. List is down below!
> 
> Hiccup: Harrison Henrik Haddock the Third (everyone calls him Hiccup though)  
> Astrid: Astrid  
> Toothless: Tommy (human and Hiccups brother)  
> Stoick: Stoick (not mentioned but Stoick and Valka are both from Scotland)  
> Valka: Valka  
> Snotlout: Scott  
> Tuffnut: Trey  
> Ruffnut: Renée  
> Fishlegs: Fisher  
> Eret: Eric  
> Alvin: Alvin  
> Cloudjumper: Calum (human)  
> Gobber: Grayson (friends still call him Gobber)
> 
> Now, on with the story!

A camera is turned on, showing a messy desk and paper covered walls. A computer screen is on, showing a black dragon with toxic green eyes among millions of icons. A yearbook is a open on the desk, face down, reading;  _ Berk Public High School.  _

 

A sixteen year old boy walks in front of the camera and sits down. He’s 5”6 with auburn hair and emerald green eyes. A mosaic of freckles covers his face, as well as a scar across his chin.

 

“Hey, uh, me,” He said, awkwardly. “So, uh, today is, June sixteenth, and this is my time capsule message, to… the future me.” He scratched his neck and took a breath. “This will be stored for… twenty-five years, when you, the future Harrison, or Hiccup, Henry Haddock the Third, will… I don’t know, see how life turned out, I guess.”

 

He tapped his leg with his fingers and looked at the floor, thinking of what to say. “Um, b-by now Dad is forty-five. So… Mom is… Mom is forty-three. But, I haven’t seen her in, about five months. Um… what else?” He sighed, once again. “You’re the clumsiest junior at Berk Public High School, but you’re head of the Video Club, which is awesome.” he said the last part with a small smile. “And, that-that’s pretty much it.” he clasped his hands together, before sitting up and walking behind the camera.

 

When the camera cut, it showed the top of the desk, covered in papers and books. “So, this is Casa de Hiccup…” he joked. “Where you spend most of your time-”

 

“Staring at the photo of Astrid Hofferson and doing nothing.” A boy with black hair and pale skin said, taking the seat in front of Hiccup’s computer, holding up said photo.

 

Hiccup sighed and rolled his eyes behind the camera. “This is Tommy, your typical annoying brother.” he said.

 

Tommy nodded and smirked. “Respect to you too, bro.” he shut the book, his finger still holding the page, and swiveled himself in the chair.

 

“By the time you see this, Tommy’s gonna be living in a state pen.” he joked, pointing the camera at his younger sibling.

 

Tommy stood and started walking towards the door. “Heh, nope.” he said, popping the ‘p’. “I will be playing lead guitar to hundreds of fans in Madison Square Garden. But you, will be stuck right here, moaning over her.” He made a pouting face, opening the page back up to the photo of the golden blonde.

 

Hiccup cut the recording and snatched the book from his brother, throwing it onto the bed and walking down stairs. Once he reached the bottom, his dad, Stoick Vast Haddock, was sipping his coffee. He switched his camera back on, and pointed it at his dad. “This is Dad. He’s vice principal at BPHS… which is not the best situation for me.” he muttered the last part so Stoick wouldn’t hear. But the muscular, red bearded man didn’t seem to notice anything. “Dad?”

 

Stoick continued to read, not looking up. “Hiccup, not now, I’m having breakfast here.” He stood, placing his cup in the sink. “Tommy, I am leaving in five, ready or not.” he said, raising his voice to be heard upstairs.

 

“Relax!” Tommy yelled.

 

“Want to say something to the future you, Dad?””Hiccup asked, pointing the camera at his father.

 

Stoick looked up and sighed. “Not now, Hiccup, okay? Busy day, can’t you see that?” he said, picking up his plate and placing that in the sink as well.

 

“Dad, you’re the one who wanted these, these video-time-capsule clips in the first place.” Hiccup pointed out, not lowering the camera.

 

Stoick ignores the comment all together and looked at the TV, arms crossed. “The weather’s gonna kill the graduation ceremony. Maybe we should postpone it.” he thought aloud.

 

Hiccup let out a breath and turned off the camera. “Or you could just ignore me. Like every other day of my life.” He grabbed his bag off the chair and threw it over his shoulder, walking towards the door, camera in hand. 

 

Tommy raced out the door and past both Hiccup and Stoick in his attempts to get outside. He took a camera out of his bag and opened it, before swinging his bag back on and opening the camera. “Okay. Time-capsule video, number two.” he said, clearing his throat. “What kind of man am I?”

 

“You’re not a man, yet!” Stoick called, walking towards the car, box in arms. 

 

Tommy ignored him and continued. “Well, that’s a hard question to answer. I mean, how do you describe perfection?” he finished with a smirk.

 

Hiccup walked out, looking at Tommy, confused. “I thought you already recorded your message.” he said, walking towards the garage. 

 

“I did, but then I remembered I look way better in morning light.” he said, fixing his hair and turning the camera to Stoick, who was putting boxes in the trunk of the black car. “Lift with your legs, Dad!” he called.

 

Stoick picked up the second last box up and walked over to load it into the car. “Come on, I could use some help.”

 

Tommy made a hissing noise and made a ‘too bad’ face. “Man, wish I could. But I have that running injury with my… back.”

 

Stoick sighed as he lifted the last box into the car. “You get all that?” he asked. Tommy nodded, and Stoick closed the trunk. “Good, get in.” He said walking to the driver’s side door and opening it.

 

“Shotgun!” Tommy called, racing to the car.

 

“I’m taking my bike.” Hiccup said, walking his bike down the driveway. 

 

Tommy looked at his brother. “Dude, chill. If you want shotgun just take it.”

 

Stoick walked over to Hiccup, stopping him from going out onto the road. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier. With the storm, the graduation, I-I’ve got a lot on my plate.”

 

Hiccup sighed in annoyance, turning to face his dad. “I know. It’s always something. I’m used to it.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“It means, you’re ignoring me or you’re on my case!”

 

“That’s not true.”

 

“If it’s not my room, i-it’s my grades, or the stupid time capsule, which I’m working my ass of trying to get done-”

 

“Hiccup-”

 

“No. What’s the point? Nothing’s ever good enough for you.” 

 

“Stop, let’s talk about this.”

 

“No. Busy day, Dad. Can’t you see that?” Hiccup said sarcastically, hopping on his bike and riding down the road.

 

Tommy whistled as Stoick watched sadly as his son rode off. He pointed the camera back at his dad. “Dad. Dad. Right now, don’t even think about it before you answer, just blurt it out… Who is your favorite son?”

 

Stoick rolled his eyes. “Get in the car.”

 

**…**

 

Hiccup arrived at the school 2 minutes after his father and brother. He walked his bike to the bike racks. Seconds after parking his bike, a soccer ball flew at him, hitting him square in the head and knocking him down. He groaned as he heard the familiar laughter of, none other than, his cousin Scott Jorgensen. Scott was a jock with an ultra sized ego and a joy of picking on Hiccup. Hiccup could barely remember a day when Scott actually acted like a cousin. 

 

“Woah! Sorry there  _ cuz _ !” Scott said, running past him to grab the ball. 

 

“Thanks.” Hiccup said, sarcastically.

 

“It’s really not my fault, I mean, you’re just an accident waiting to happen!” He laughed, throwing the ball at the back of Hiccup’s head. “A  _ hiccup _ .” he spat the last part, and ran to join his friends. 

 

Hiccup stood, taking his camera out of his bag checking for damage from the fall. He saw nothing, except for low battery. He sighed and looked for his Dad’s car that had all the cameras and batteries for the graduation. He walked to the car, where Tommy was fiddling with a tripod. 

 

“Hey,” he said, approaching slowly.

 

“Hey,” Tommy replied.

 

Hiccup grabbed a battery from the car and slid it in the slot in the camera. “Did you get the last of the interviews?” he asked.

 

Tommy shook his head. “Nah, still got a few more to do.”

 

Hiccup turned around and looked at the school to see his dad, and Principle Grayson, arguing. He opened his camera, not willing to miss it. “There’s Dad taking shit from Gobber for a change.” Gobber, or Principle Grayson, was a  friend of Stoick growing up, but also happened to be his boss.

 

“Oh, I got a nice shot of Trey falling off a lunch table on top of his sister.” Tommy said, showing Hiccup the camera.

 

On said camera, a long haired blonde boy was standing on a lunch table, doing who knows what, when he walked backwards off the end and landed on top of a long haired blonde girl. Trey and Renée Thorson were daredevils, doing crazy stunts, pranks and dares all the time. And this was another stupid dare gone wrong.

 

“Tommy, cut it out.” Hiccup said, lowering the camera. “We need to start editing right after graduation. Dad wants the clips online by the end of the week.”

 

Tommy shrugged. “What’s the point of a video time capsule anyway? Video might not even exist in twenty five years.”

 

Hiccup looked at him like he had turned green. “What?” He shook his head. “Let’s just finish this, okay?”

 

Tommy sighed. “Fine.” He looked up at the clouds, then back at his camera. “Did you see the weather report? There’s supposed to be a big storm coming. Maybe it’ll cancel the whole… woah, there’s your girl!” He raised his camera and zoomed in on a blonde haired blue eyed girl who was talking with a teacher. 

 

“If I don’t get it by the end of the day you won’t get the internship. Simple as that.” The teacher said and walked away. Astrid ran a hand through her hair before grabbing her bag and walking into the school.

 

“Dude, now’s your chance!” Tommy said, nudging Hiccup and pointing over at the girl. “Vulnerable girl, comforting guy, right?” he added with a smirk. “Just talk to her and see if she’s okay.”

 

Hiccup shook his head, blushing slightly. “We have work to do.” he said, putting the still recording camera on the tripod.

 

“Horseshit. Come on.” Tommy complained.

 

“I need to get the last of the interviews, and Dad’s, like-”

 

“Hic-”

 

“-on my case about it.”

 

“Hiccup!” Tommy partially yelled. “Screw Dad. Go do something for yourself for once.” Hiccup looked at the doors to the school, hesitantly. “Bro, I am literally begging you. Just go talk to her.”

 

Hiccup looked up. “Okay.” he said hesitantly.

 

Tommy smirked. “Yeah?”

 

“Stop.” Hiccup gave him a playful shove and walked towards the doors. 

 

“Have fun!” Tommy called before chuckling. “He’s really doing it! I gotta film this train wreck!” he said, grabbing the camera and taking it off the tripod. He then stood just outside one of the doors to the library, watching, and filming, as his brother walked towards his long time crush. “And he’s pulling into the station.”

 

“H-hey, Astrid.” Hiccup stuttered. 

 

Astrid looked up and sighed. “Hey.” she said in a sarcastic tone, clearly annoyed.

 

“It’s Hiccup.” he said, hesitantly.

 

Astrid looked at him. “Yeah, I know.”

 

Hiccup mentally face palmed.  _ Of course she knew that. Sure, she hasn’t talked to me in years but I’m the biggest joke in the school. _

 

Tommy laughed quietly. “Strike one.”

 

“A-Are you okay?” Hiccup asked. “I saw you outside with Miss Blaskey…”

 

Astrid sighed, looking at her open laptop. “Right.” She let out a breath. “I had an apprenticeship, and it had to be submitted by the weekend. Miss Blaskey checked it for me and it’s just  _ completely  _ corrupted!” She ran her hands through her hair. “I don’t know what happened to it! It was  _ fine  _ yesterday!” she smacked the table with her fist, startling Hiccup, Tommy and almost everyone else in the room.

 

“Yeah, y-yeah, that’s toast. W-What was it about?” Hiccup stuttered.

 

“The abandoned factory on Garner.”

 

“The paper mill?”

 

“Yeah.” She looked from her computer screen to Hiccup, who was now sitting in the chair next to her. “When they shut it down, the state never paid for an official cleanup. So there’s all these chemicals and hazardous waste sitting there… contaminating the sail and probably running off into the town’s water supply.” She looked back at Hiccup, who was giving her a curious look. “That’s what the film’s about.”

 

“Come on! Pretend to be interested!” Tommy whispered from the doorway.

 

Astrid sighed leaning back in her chair. “So, I’m screwed.”

 

“Come on man, take a swing!” Tommy muttered.

 

“So,” Hiccup started. “You’re really into all this environmental stuff, huh?”

 

Tommy groaned. “Come on dude, just ask her out!”

 

“Gotta take care of the planet, right?” Astrid asked.

 

“Or else, the planet will take care of us, r-right?” Hiccup joked.

 

Tommy rolled his eyes. “That was awkward.”

 

Astrid let out a small laugh. “Yeah. Well, some of us care or-”

 

“No, no I-I’m sorry.” Hiccup apoligised. “I-it’s just, you always seemed to be more of a ‘sports girl’.”

 

“Hey, I prefer grass over turf any day.” she pointed out.

 

“Well, I could help. I have all these camera’s and this editing software and…”

 

Astird looked at him, eyes hopeful. “Really?”

 

“Yeah. Th-this will be easy, we can reshoot this.”

 

“It’d have to be today.”

 

“T-today?”

 

That’s when realization hit her. “Oh, you’re filming the graduation, no-”

 

“No no no, it’s fine! No, Tommy, he’s good with this stuff too. He can handle the graduation.” he reassured.

 

Tommy’s mouth fell open. “No way.”

 

“He can film it.”

 

“Really?” Astrid asked. 

 

“It’s not a problem.” Hiccup clarified.

 

“Yes it’s a problem!” Tommy hissed.

 

“You’re sure?” Astrid asked, hopeful eyes.

 

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah.”

 

Astrid let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Thank you  _ so  _ much! You have no idea what this means for me!” she exclaimed.

 

Hiccup smiled and stood. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

 

Astrid packed her stuff in her bag and stood. “Thank you.”

 

“So, I’ll see you later?”

 

She nodded. “Yeah. Thank you.” she smiled and left for her class.

 

“This is so not cool.” Tommy muttered before walking into the library. “You are kidding me!” he yelled, getting shushed a few times.

 

Hiccup looked at him. “W-what are you doing?” he asked walking over.

 

“You’re seriously skipping out on the ceremony?” Tommy asked in disbelief. He was usually the one to ditch stuff like this, not Hiccup.

 

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah, you said do something for yourself, so, I’m doing something for myself.”

 

“And leaving  _ me  _ to do all the filming?” he asked, annoyed.

 

“You can handle it.” Hiccup looked at him. “Right?”

 

“Y-yes.” Tommy said slowly, unsure if he was right. “Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Hey, you go for it bro.”

  
“Come on, let’s get the last interviews.” he said, hauling Tommy out of the library.


	2. Interviews and Data

“Okay,” Hiccup asked, pulling out his camera. “Who do we still have to get still?”

Tommy held up a list of names for the time-capsule videos. “Okay, um, we have; Heather, Fisher, Harry Miller from the construction site, don’t ask me why, Mildew, from across the street and… Scott.”

Hiccup sighed in annoyance. “I’ll get Mildew and Harry, since they’re both off school property. Can you handle the rest?” he asked.

Tommy groaned. “Do you have to stick me with Scott, bro?”

Hiccup gave him a look. “If I do it, his whole message will be ‘ _I’m guessing in 25 years Hiccup will still be a worthless, clumsy, wimp that cleans bathrooms for a living_ ’.” he said in a squeaky voice.

Tommy laughed. “Dude you sound _just_ like him!” Hiccup glared at him and he coughed, as if to clear his throat. “Ya, ya I got it.”

“Then why are you still here?” Hiccup joked, giving his brother a playful shrug and walking off

…

In the gym, Scott is dribbling a basketball across the court. Tommy switched the camera on and pointed it at Scott.

“Yo, Scott we’re rolling!” He yelled.

Scott threw the ball and it swished straight into the net. He turned to the camera with a smile. “Yo, sup me! How’s life in the future bro? I just know by now you’re playing for the NBA, you’re _super_ loaded, and you have a smokin’ hot cheerleader wife!” he listed, counting with his fingers. “So, why the hell are you watching this? Why don’t you get up to your penthouse and bang her good, right?” he laughed.

Tommy glared at him. Scott wasn’t usually like this, but right now it was all about the attention. “That’s your time capsule message, Scott?” he asked.

Scott shrugged with a smirk. “Why not?”

…

“A message?” Harry Miller asked as he stood in front of a huge storm drain with other men in uniform. “Too late for me, too late for these guys.” he said gesturing behind him. “But my kids? Grandkids? Simple. Study. Get good grades. Or else you’ll be stuck with this group of losers shoveling shit all day- sorry.”

Hiccup held back a laugh and shut the camera off.

…

A dark haired girl with a fishtail braid was sitting at a library table, fingers crossed and eyes shut. “Please marry a rich guy. Please marry a rich guy.” she chanted.

“Uh, Heather,” Tommy interrupted. “We’re rolling.”

She opened her eyes and smiled at the camera.

“So, what do you want to say to yourself in 25 years?” he asked.

“That was it.”

…

Mildew sat on a bench, his fluffy white dog, Fungus, with him. “25 years time? My guess is we’d blown up the whole world by that time.” Fungus seemed to bark in agreement.

Hiccup shrugged. “Alright.”

…

Next was a very bulky boy with blonde hair and glasses named Fisher. He was standing in the school library, bustling students behind him.

“Let’s face it. High School sucks. But hopefully it was all worth it. You’ve got your Ph.D. from Brown. You’re doing research and using your skills to help-”

“Douche-rocket!” Scott yelled, popping up in the background before running

Fisher sighed while Tommy chuckled, but stopped and cleared his throat. “Sorry, man.”

…

“ _The tornado that struck Oklahoma last night took the lives of four high school students, when it picked up their car and tossed it hundreds of feet into the air._ ” said a reporter on the radio of a tank like vehicle before being switched off.

“Great, we missed another one.” A muscular, dark haired man told his crew who was sitting in the truck, or Titus, with him. “Hey, you guys know the goal of a documentary is to actually document something, right?”

“Copy that, Alvin.” Eric confirmed from the back seat.

“When was the last time we shot one, Eric?” he asked.

Eric closed his eyes, thinking back. “Uh, that EF4 that we shot a year ago.”

“Right. A year ago.” Alvin sighed, shaking his head. “Which makes this, the most expensive, failed, home-movie ever!”

“ _Where do you wanna go, boss?_ ” A voice said on the radio.

Alvin picked up the speaker and held it to his mouth. “I don’t know, Calum. My job it to shoot them not find them.”

In the blue van, just behind the Titus, Calum had a headset on while driving the van. In the back, Valka Haddock sat watching the many screens, showing weather channels and maps of various states.

“He’s upset.” Calum pointed out.

Val sighed, looking down at a page in her notebook. “What else is new? Five months of that, I’m over it.” She looked back up at the screens, finding nothing yet. “Just be thankful we’re in her and not in the Titus.”

“Must be brutal in there.” Calum joked.

“ _You left the radio on genius._ ” Alvin said over the radio.

“Shit.” Calum exclaimed, ripping the headset off his head and shutting off the radio. “That probably didn’t help his mood.”

“Screw his mood.” Valka said, looking back up at the screens then picking up her radio. “Hey, Al, do you wanna stop somewhere? I’ve got something I think you should see.”

Moments later, at a gas station, Alvin and Calum parked and Alvin walked over to the van, climbing in. “What do we got?” he asked.

“Okay, there’s this larger system moving towards Longhead, like predicted. But, I think we should go here.” Val said, pointing at a small town south of the large township of Longhead. “The wind and precipitation readings in the trailing cell would better make for a funnel.”

Alvin looked at the screen, annoyed. “Which is exactly what you said about Morristown-”

“No-”

“-and Osgood.”

“-no.This one’s different. It’s not following the usual pattern. It’s growing faster.”

“It’s growing faster?” Alvin asked and Val nodded. “Meanwhile every storm chaser this side of Hawaii _is_ going to Longhead. Which, by the way, is where I think we should go.” Val sighed, looking up at her data. “And you want us to go where? _Berk?_ ”

“Look Al, this isn’t some random attempt to visit my family, this is stone-hard data and fact.” Val was about to continue when Alvin cut her off.

“This is months on the road, and guess what?” he asked, his tone rising. “We got nothing that you can’t get on YouTube. _Worst_ season I’ve ever had!”

“You think this is an instinct game, I think it’s a data game. But fact is, it’s neither without a big, fat dose of luck. And there is nothing I can do about that.” she said, pointing at the sky. Alvin sighed and she turned back to her data. “So, back off of me.”

“I just want you and your data to find me a goddamn tornado.” he explained, fed up with all the failed hunts.

She turned to face him. “Then Berk’s our best chance.”

Alvin turned to Calum, who was sitting in the driver's seat, watching the whole thing. “What do you think?”

“She’s the one with all the degrees.” Calum pointed out. “My money’s on her.”

Alvin sighed. “Berk it is. Eric! Let’s get to a motel and set up!” he called to Eric, who was leaving the convenience store with a pack of water bottles.


	3. Screaming, Sirens, Wind

“Radio check!” Alvin called and hopped into the Titus.

 

“Yes, sir.” Calum said through the mic.

“ _ Copy that. _ ” Alvin replied and hopped back out of the Titus and towards the van. He dug through the back, looking for extra camera batteries. “Uh, Calum?” he asked. “Why are there only four camera batteries?”

 

Calum climbed into the back with Alvin, looking for the batteries, finding none. “Shit.”

 

Alvin sighed. “Alright everybody, back to the hotel!” he called, walking off to the Titus.

 

Eric walked over to the van, leaning on the door. “Come on, man. Get your shit together! Alvin won’t go easy on you if you keep up this stuff up.” Calum sighed and turned back to sit in his seat.

 

“Relax.” Val told him. “If you give Al a good shot, he’s your new best friend.” she added with a smirk.

 

**…**

 

In the back of BPHS, teachers and volunteers were placing chairs and stands out for the graduation. Tommy just finished setting up the last of all three camera’s when his dad walked over.

 

“Where’s Hiccup?” he asked.

 

“Mic check, one, two, three.” Gobber said from the stage.

 

Tommy shrugged. “I don’t know. Around.” He adjusted a tripod to it was level and looked up at his dad.

 

“He knows what time we’re starting?” he asked, walking towards another camera.

 

Tommy shrugged again. “Yeah, sure.” he said, as Stoick looked at him curiously. “Anyway, I can run the camera’s.”

 

Stoick walked up the the camera. “All three?”

 

“Yes, Dad,” Tommy said, nodding. “That’s why they invented tripods.”

 

Stoick looked back at him. “Tommy, this is serious.”

 

There was a pause, then Tommy spoke up. “And I can’t do it, right?” 

 

“I didn’t say that.”

 

“You kind of did.” He turned and walked away, Stoick giving him the same look he gave Hiccup that morning.

 

**…**

 

At the motel, Calum, Alvin and Eric were sitting in the room, watching the weather station while Valka grabbed the bag for the camera batteries and her laptop. Once she arrived, Alvin looked up at her.

 

“Take a look.” he said.

 

“ _ We have now confirmed that a tornado has hit Longhead. All of the surrounding area’s remain under severe thunderstorm watch for the afterno- _ ” THe reporter on the TV said before Alvin shut it off.

 

“Data, huh?” he said, annoyed.

 

Val stared at the TV. “Shit.” she muttered, sitting on the desk next to the television and opening her laptop. 

 

“What’s happening in Berk?” Alvin asked her.

 

“Give me a minute.” she responded. She typed in the location and waited for the results. She sighed. “It’s dissipating. There’s some scattered thunderstorms and that’s about it.”

 

Alvin glared at her. “Thunderstorms?  _ Thunderstorms _ ?” He sighed and stood. “Put everything in the van. We’re moving now.”

 

“Where do you wanna go?” she asked.

 

“ _ You _ , are stay here.” he responded. “ _ We _ , are going to Longhead.”

 

Val sighed, slamming her laptop down on the desk she was previously sitting on. There was a light banging from outside, soon followed by more banging. She looked outside to see clumps of baseball sized hail. She walked over to the window before opening the door.

 

“I thought you said it was dissipating.” said Alvin, standing and following her to the door. 

 

“It was.” she added before walking outside, using her laptop as an umbrella. Calum, Eric and Alvin all followed her out.

 

“Where are you going?” Calum called, wincing as an ice clump landed on his shoulder, hard. 

 

“Going to check the Doppler!”

 

They ran through the parking lot until they reached the van and climbed inside. Valka switched the screen on for the Doppler and smiled. “It’s regenerating.”

 

Alvin looked at the screen, confused. “And?”

 

“Berk.” she said, looking at her boss. “It’s coming.”

 

**…**

 

“To all the students, of this year’s graduating class, who have dedicated themselves to the hard work necessary to reach this day.” Principle Grayson said in front of the 100 or so graduating students seated in blue in front of him. “You are now standing on the threshold of adult life.”

 

The students looked bored out of their minds. Some were fanning themselves against the heat, some played on their phones, and Tommy swore he was one of them sleeping. As Principal Gryson continued to talk, a few clouds started to roll in, making everything cool down significantly.

 

**…**

 

“Pull over, there!” Valka called up to Calum as she stared out the window at the wall cloud that was forming. Calum pulled over, as did Alvin just behind them. She jumped out, as well as Calum, Eric and Alvin. Eric and Calum both had their camera’s going, pointed up at the clouds.

 

“Do you see anything?” Eric asked.

 

Val looked around before spotting movement just to the left. “There! Rotation just east of us!” she called, pointing at the dark, circulating clouds.

 

The clouds started forming a cone shape before starting to twist down towards the ground. Alvin smiled. “Yes, we’ve got a vortex!”

 

Seconds later, the bottom of the funnel disappeared behind some trees. And moments later, a brown cloud of dirt and debris formed around the base. 

 

“Is that debris?” Calum asked, in amazement.

 

“We’ve got debris! Tornado is on the ground!” Alvin called happily. “Val, get back in the van and tell me where I can intercept!” he called, running into the Titus, Calum and Eric right behind him. 

 

She nodded and climbed back into the van, driving right behind Alvin. He kept driving up the road until he reached a small field and a dirt road. “Where do we go, Val?” he asked.

 

She looked at the twister, looking at it’s path. “Head straight, the field is right in it’s path!” she called through the radio. 

 

“ _ Copy that _ .” he confirmed and drove forward. He parked quickly and set down the grappling claws on the sides of the Titus, stabilizing them in the strong winds. “How’re we looking?” h asked through the radio.

 

“ _ It’s headed straight for you. _ ” Val responded. 

 

The turning cyclone tore through a barn just to their right, sending debris through the air straight at the Titus. Bouncing off it’s bullet proof windshield. 

 

“Oh shit!” Calum yelled in shock. “Oh my god!”

 

“Calum,” Alvin said, resting a hand on his arm. “Don’t you lose it on me! You’re gonna be fine!” He then climbed into the back, past Eric who had his camera up, and into the turret. A glass, also bullet proof, dome, with a rotating seat and a camera, giving a 360 view of outside.

 

The twister slowly started moving towards them, before moving straight past them to the left. “Damn it!” Alvin yelled, annoyed. He picked up the mic. “Val, where’s it headed?”

 

Valka opened a map, looking for the path of the storm. Her eyes widened in panic. “Oh shit!” she yelled, picking up the headset. “It’s headed for the school!”

 

**…**

 

Astrid walked through the abandoned paper mill, holding a tripod in her hands. She looked around at all the damaged factory. “I mean, look at this place!” she said to Hiccup who was walking right next to her with the two camera’s. “They should tear it down. Decontaminate it. Plant some trees, or a garden, or something.”

 

Hiccup chuckled. “They should  _ totally _ build a skate park here.” Astrid glared at him and he coughed. “W-with a garden.” he added.

 

She smiled. “Yeah.”

 

Hiccup walked to one of the edges of the factory and called Astrid over. “Could you put the tripod over here?” he asked. 

 

She nodded and set it down so Hiccup could place the camera down. Once it was set up they walked to the middle of the factory. There was a large hole in the ground just behind where Astrid was standing. He raised his hand-held camera and pointed it at her. She sighed and slung her hair over her shoulder.

 

“Do I look okay?” she asked, fiddling with her red sweater.

 

“Yeah,” Hiccup nodded. “Beautiful.” He blushed instantly after he realized he said it out loud. “I wasn’t saying… I-I was, like, for the… I don’t know. I-I’m rolling here…”

 

He was so embarrassed he didn’t see the slight tint of pink in her cheeks. “If we weren’t in a hurry, I’d punch you.” she said, raising a fist to make a point. “But, thanks.”

 

**…**

 

“You cannot help but learn more as you take the world in your hands. Take it up reverently… for it’s an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it.” Principle Grayson continued. The clouds darkened and rain started to pour down on the ceremony. Students and parents, as well as teachers opened up umbrellas to protect themselves from the downpour. 

 

Principle Grayson sighed. “Great.” he muttered. “I guess we should… I guess we should move this along. Seniors! Stand up!” he called, and they did so. “Stand up! We salute you!” 

 

The graduates threw their caps in the air in glee, ignoring the rain. Seconds later tornado sirens rang across the yard, causing everyone to panic. 

 

“Everyone inside! Please head inside in an orderly fashion!” Stoick bellowed as Principal Grayson helped lead everyone inside. 

 

“Everyone get inside!” a teacher said at the doors, assuring everyone inside. 

 

Tommy was one of the last few in, and stood in front of the window, filming what was happening outside. Stoick turned to his son.

 

“Tommy! Where’s Hiccup?” he asked, urgently.

 

Tommy looked at his dad nervously. “Uh, I don’t exactly know.” he said looking back and forth between Stoick and his camera.

 

Stoick looked at him for a second before holding his hand out, asking him over. “Get away from the window.”

 

Seconds later, Tommy had to duck to the side as a tree, roots and all, was flung through the window, nearly missing him. He looked back out to see a turning funnel of cloud and wind making its way towards the school, flinging tree’s against the brick walls as it did so. The school’s sirens started blaring through the halls.

 

“TORNADO!” he yelled. 

 

Stoick grabbed his arm pulling him away from the window and into the hall. “Everybody into the hallways! GO!” 

 

No one hesitated and ran towards the middle of the school, down the hallways and kneeled down against the lockers.

 

“Against the wall! Cover your heads!” Stoick called, doing so as well. The power switched out, but the emergency lights and sirens remained on. “Get your heads down! Head down! Against the wall!”

 

For a few moments, there was silence. Then, there was a strong gust of wind and half of the hallway opened up, the roof flew off and students were being sucked out. Screaming, sirens, wind. Screaming, sirens, wind. That was all that could be heard.

 

Minutes later, it stopped. The twister had moved on. Stoick stood up, coughing. 

 

“Tommy?” he called.

 

Tommy stood up slowly. “Yeah, I’m here, Dad.”

 

“Everybody okay?”

 

A chorus of ‘yes’ and ‘yeah’ followed. Stoick reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and dialing Hiccup’s number.

 

**…**

 

“Ready?” Hiccup asked.

 

Astrid nodded. He had just started recording so they could begin when his phone rang. 

 

“Can you hold this?” he asked, holding the camera to Astrid to hold while he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “It’s my dad.”

 

“Are you going to answer it?” she asked.

 

He shook his head. “No, are you kidding? I missed the whole ceremony.”

 

**…**

 

Stoick sighed as the call went to message. “Tommy, give me your phone.”

 

**…**

 

His phone rang once more and he picked it up. “Tommy?” he answered.

 

“ _ Hiccup, are you okay _ ?”

 

“Dad? Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”

 

“ _ Where are you? _ ”

 

“Dad, Tommy can handle all the filming and stuff. It’s not, like, a problem.”

 

“ _ Never mind that. Are you safe? Tell me where you are? _ ”

 

“Safe? Yeah, I’m at the old paper mill.”

 

“ _ On Garner _ ?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“ _ Listen, it’s really impo-ortant th-t yo- _ ”

 

“Dad?”

 

“ _ H-cc-p? _ ”

 

“Dad?”

 

**…**

 

“Stay where you are-” Stoick started before it became static.

 

“ _ D-d a-a-d _ ?”

 

“Hiccup? Hiccup!”

 

Silence.

 

**…**

 

“What happened?” Astrid asked, handing him his camera back.

 

“I don’t know.” Hiccup shrugged, taking the camera from her. “It just cut out.”

 

There was a rumble of thunder, followed by the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. 

 

“Maybe we should go.” Astris suggested. 

 

Hiccup nodded in agreement. “Yeah.” 

 

There was a large gust of wind, creaking the building that stopped both of them in their tracks. The whistling grew stronger, so did the creaking. The building started shaking slightly.

 

“What is that?” she asked.

  
Suddenly, the roof and walls were sucked away by the twister, and the building started to cave.  Hiccup threw Astrid into the hole just behind them, just as the building came down on top of it. Trapping them.


	4. You're Here Now

“My Gods.” Valka whispered from the back of the van as she watched a news report on the twister they encountered moments ago.

 

“ _ From our vantage point the damage could have been a whole lot worse. The tornado just narrowly grazed the school… _ ” The reporter said as they showed a air shot of the school, showing one wretched end of the school and hundreds of wrecked cars and busses. 

 

Valka stared at the screen. Her family was there, but from the looks of things, the should be alright. Key word:  _ should _ . “Eric are you hearing this?”

 

“ _...as you can see from this footage. The National Weather Service is currently tracking a second supercell moving in our direction. I know it's hard to imagine… _ ”

 

“A second cell.” Valka muttered, looking at the doppler, seeing just as the reporter said. “This is gonna be bad.”

 

“How can there be another system?” Eric asked from the front seat.

 

She didn’t lose eye contact with the screen. **“** I've never seen anything like this. These updrafts are insane.” she mumbled.

 

Eric sighed, seeing a power line crushing a red tractor blocking their path. “Got downed power lines.” he said pulling the van to a stop, Alvin and Calum stopping the Titus on the other side. “We’re stuck.”

 

Val looked up to see Alvin and Calum walking over cautiously. “It’s alright.” she said. “I’m about to make his day.”

 

Alvin opened the large blue door and looked at Valka, expectantly. “What else we got?”

 

Calum walked up behind Alvin, camera in hand. Val smiled seeing that her friend was alright. “Activity heading North towards the center of town.” she said simply.

 

Alvin looked at her, not sure if he got what she was saying. “A second cell?” he asked.

 

She nodded. “It’s super organized. The hook echo is huge.”

 

Alvin smiled. “I wanna set up as close to the perimeter as possible. I wanna be in the middle. I'm not gonna miss it.” he told her.

 

She nodded, exasperated with his orders. “I hear you.” she said before turning towards Calum. “How you doing, Cal?”

 

Calum nodded, lowering the camera. “Never better.” he said, his voice wavering as if he wasn’t sure he was right.

 

“You hang in there, buddy. That was nothing.” Val said finishing writing the GPS cords onto a page. “Here you go.” she said handing it towards Alvin.

 

Alvin held his hand up, stopping her. “Send that to my GPS.” he said. “Let's roll! Come on!” he called, walking quickly back to the Titus.

 

Val sighed, dropping the clipboard she was holding on the keyboard in front of her, connected to her many monitors. “You want a coffee with that, boss?” she said sarcastically.

 

Looking back at the screen, which showed an aerial view of the school.  _ Please let them be alright _ .

 

…

 

“Astrid?” Hiccup called. It was dark, wet and cold. His left leg throbbed and burned in pain, a liquid flowed over the top and into the floor, he hoped it was water. He could barely see but he could just make out a metal beam that was digging into his leg.

 

“Hiccup?! Where are you!?” Astrid called, he could hear her some debris clanking and banging under her feet as she got closer. When he saw her, he realized how low their ‘ceiling’ was. Astrid was bent over so far her back was almost flat, on about a 70 degree angle.

 

“Here.” He said casually, as if there was nothing wrong in the world. 

 

She walked over to him carefully. “You okay?” she asked, sitting down near him.

 

“Everything down to my left knee is fine.” he stated, a slight sarcastic tone lingering in his words.

 

She looked at him questioningly. “What are you-” she said, looking down to his left leg. It was under a metal beam, a liquid surrounding the edge. She knew very well what it was. “Oh gods,” she sighed.

 

She looked around, trying to find out how to get it off of his leg, but found nothing. Almost everything was black. “Is there a flashlight or something?” she asked.

 

Hiccup stretched his arm back and turned slightly where his Camera was safely resting on a ledge, and flicked it’s built-in flashlight on. The light was very bright and they had to shut their eyes for a moment to adjust. Once he opened his eye’s again, he saw that his hopes had been crushed. It was not water, but hot crimson blood, seeping out of his wounded leg.

 

Astrid looked down as well, and while she was expecting the blood, she didn;t think there would be that much of it. One thing she knew, she needed to get the beam off of him and stop the bleeding.

 

She took a deep breath and bent her knees in a ready stance and put her hands around and under the beam. “Okay,” she said. “I’m going to have to lift this beam. It’s going to hurt, a lot, so… yeah.” she trailed off into a whisper in the end. 

 

Hiccup nodded his head and placed his hand on a small bar resting next to him. “Okay.” he whispered.

 

“Okay.” Astrid whispered, but not to Hiccup, to herself. She shifted her feet around to find the right position and began lifting. Thankfully, the beam was lighter than she thought, making it easier to lift. But it didn’t minimize the pain.

 

Hiccup had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. But that failed. His fingers wrapped around the bar so tightly his knuckles turned white, and his other hand pushed hard on the ground, trying to distract him. But that also failed. It felt to him as if someone was stabbing him in the leg, repeatedly with a blunt knife. He didn’t even notice as a few hot tears made their way out of his eyes.

 

Astrid dropped the bar a few feet away from them and turned back around, looking for something to tie around his leg to keep out some infection and stop the bleeding or he would die. She kneeled down next to him and wiped away a few stray tears.

 

He opened his eyes, the pain subsiding slightly. “Thanks,” he whispered, smiling slightly before his leg shifted and pain shot back up through it.

 

“Is there anything I can use to wrap it up?” Astrid asked him. 

 

He nodded slightly. “Uh, y-yeah, in my bag, my uh, sweater’s in there.” he said pointing to the bag a few feet from him.

 

Astrid quickly walked, or best she could since she was slouched over so far because of the low ceiling. She bent down and zipped open the bag, pulling out a fairly large black sweater. On the back, it read ‘ _ Berk Vikings: Track Team 2014 _ ’. She walked over to his leg and bent down, beginning to tie it. 

 

“I didn’t know you were on the track team.” she stated, trying to strike up a conversation to distract him. “And even if you were I’ve 

 

“I’m not.” he replied, a small smile played on his lips. “Tommy is and when he ordered the sweaters he got an extra by mistake, so he - ow... gave it to me.” he said, wincing as she finished tying the sweater tightly around his injury.

 

She smiled slightly, sitting down next to him. “You guys seem really close.”

 

Hiccup avoided her gaze. “He’s the only friend I ever had who didn’t abandon me.”

 

Her heart broke to hear that. She could barely remember the short time when the whole gang (Trey, Renée, Scott, Fisher, Tommy, Hiccup and Astrid) would hang out together. By the time they reached seventh grade, Hiccup was cast out. Scott and the others, minus Astrid and Fisher, would always pick on him and even beat him up. After that, Tommy ditched the group for his brother. Tommy was a year younger than all of them but he skipped Kindergarten so he could be with his brother. She started ignoring the two, focusing on her sports. She wish she hadn't now.

 

“Hiccup. I-I’m sor-” she began but Hiccup cut her off.

 

“It’s fine.” he said. “I understand why you did it. It’s fine.”

 

She shook her head. “No it isn’t.”

 

Hiccup nodded. “Yes it is.”

 

“No it isn’t!” she yelled, causing Hiccup to wince slightly. She sighed. “It was not okay. And I’m sorry.” She admitted. She pondered a moment about what he had said a few moments ago. “And what do you mean you ‘understand’?”

 

He shrugged, still not meeting her gaze. “You wanted to hang out with the ‘cool kids’, you know? I’m just a scrawny screw-up who no one wants to be around. I get it. If they caught you hanging around ‘Hiccup the Useless’ it would ruin your reputation.” he started, playing with his fingers.

 

She shook her head. “You really didn’t pay much attention over those four years? Did you?” she asked. He looked up at her, confused. “I wasn’t hanging out with Scott and them, I barely did. I joined at least five sports that year and was practicing  _ all _ the time. But I still ignored you. Left you alone.”

 

He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “Well, you’re here now.” he said with a small smile. “If not, I’d be stuck under that beam and would probably have bled to death.”

 

She chuckled. He was right. If she wasn’t down here with him, he’d probably be lying in a pool of his own blood. Dead. Then she realized something. They needed to get out of here. Bad. 

 

“Hiccup?” she asked. He looked over at her from his wounded leg. “Do you have your phone?” she asked.

 

He nodded. Yeah it’s in my pocket.” he said, reaching into his jean pocket and pulling out his phone. “Try and see if you can call my dad.”

 

She nodded and picked up the phone, checking for a cell signal. Nothing. “Damn,” she muttered, sitting back down. 

 

…

 

Stoick and Tommy were in their car, driving through their subdivision. There were pieces of debris lying everywhere that was flying from the twister. The destruction could have been a whole lot worse, giving Stoick hope that his son was alright.

 

He sighed, not taking his eyes off the road. “What was Hiccup doing out there in the first place?” he muttered.

 

“He’s with Astrid.” Tommy responded, earning a look from Stoick. “He’s been in love with her forever.”

 

“Hofferson?”

 

“Yeah.” Tommy replied. “He’s shooting this video project thing for her.”

 

Stoick sighed, again. “Why didn’t he just tell me?” he asked no one in particular. Then he thought of their ‘talk’ this morning. 

 

“I don't know, Dad. You're so easy to talk to.” Tommy replied sarcastically. When Stoick glared at him a glare, he held his hands up defensively. “Just saying.”

 

Stoick knew he was right. He and Hiccup had a bit of a broken relationship. Hiccup was into computer programs and sciences and video technology. He was a lot more like Valka than him. Tommy, however, was into sports and such, more like Stoick. With Val being away for months at a time, Hiccup and Stoick remained fairly distant.

 

“Woah.” Tommy breathed, pulling Stoick from his thoughts. To the left of them, was a destroyed house, a car sticking out of it. There was a van, on its side, a tree sitting next to it with its roots turned up. One of the things that caught their eye was a scruffy white dog, sitting on the sidewalk, looking at them. They climbed out and Stoick approached the dog, slowly.

 

“Hey boy.” he said, kindly.

 

Tommy looked at the dog for a moment, recognizing it. He had checked over the interviews Hiccup had done and uploaded them to his computer for editing later. “Dad, that’s Mildew’s dog.”

 

Stoick looked up from the dog and at the tipped van. Mildew might be inside. No one really liked the old man, but they couldn’t just leave him.

 

“Mildew?” he called, walking over to the van. Once he looked inside, he was the old man, still strapped in his seat, holding the wheel. He seemed petrified.

 

“I was lookin’ for shelter.” he said calmly. “Was gonna drive…”

 

Stoick opened the dented door and went to undo the seatbelt, but it was jammed. He looked around, a few neighbours came out of their homes, finding it safe out at last, and hurried over to help. “Does anyone have a knife?” Stoick asked. 

 

Tommy raced up from his spot on the ground with the dog, pulling a pocket knife out of his pocket. Stoick took it from him and sent him a glare. “I know, I’m not supposed to have that.” Tommy sighed.

 

After Mildew was safely brought out of the wrecked van, he was seated on the ground where the neighbors were asking him if he was hurt, needed anything and such. 

 

“Can you get everybody to the high school? They’ve got a storm shelter.” Stoick asked. the men nodded before Stoick turned to his son. “You gonna stay with them.”

 

Tommy shook his head. “No way.” He was going to find his brother, after all it was his idea.

 

They hopped back in the car and continued their drive to the paper mill. After a few minutes of silence, Stoick spoke up. “That was smart back there with the knife.” he said.

 

“Thanks,” Tommy said, unsure of what to think. “I thought you’d be mad.”

 

Stoick nodded, not looking at his son. “Oh, I am. Hand it over.” he said, holding out his hand, palm up. Tommy sighed and handed over the pocket knife and Stoick slipped it into his pocket.

 

Tommy looked ahead of them at the stop sign coming up at the intersection. The road sign facing him read ‘Churchill Rd’. He knew the area well, a map displayed in his head. “Dad, turn left on Churchill.” he said.

 

Stoick gave him a questioning glance before looking back on the road. “I’m gonna take the highway.” he responded.

 

“Dad,” Tommy said. “If we turn on Churchill we can take Rosewood all the way.” Stoick didn’t seem impressed so he continued. “We’d save like 20 minutes.”

  
Stoick didn’t reply and Tommy slouched back in his seat, only sitting up as he felt the car turn left.


	5. I'm gonna die in a hole!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will admit, not my best chapter title...

Val sighed as she continued to stare at the screen. The doppler was giving her the same reading each time, almost no change in direction or size. She was only pulled out of her thoughts when Alvin’s voice came on the radio.

 

“ _ How close are we Val? _ ” he asked.

 

She picked up the receiver and pressed the button down. “Pull over up ahead, it should start around here somewhere.”  _ If she doesn’t shift, s _ he added mentally, not wanting to dampen Alvin’s rare but good mood.

 

Her and Eric watched as Alvin and Calum drove past them and parked on the side of the road, just in front of a bank. the two of them hopped out of the Titus and walked into the street, staring into the clouds above them. Valka and Eric soon joined them. 

 

Calum adjusted his camera, and zoomed in and out, focusing it. “I’m not seeing anything, guys!” he said.

 

Alvin put his hands on his hips and sighed. “It better hurry up.”

 

The wind picked up slightly, blowing past them to where the road was split by a large real estate office. On the right side, the clouds started to droop and there was a slight rotation.

 

“Over there!” Eric called over the wind, pointing his camera at the forming vortex.

 

Alvin smiled. “Camera’s rolling!”

 

The vortex turned into a small funnel, that started working it’s way towards the ground. Suddenly, it pulled back and disappeared. Re-appearing a moment later on the left street and started descending to the ground. 

 

“What the…” Calum breathed, pointing his camera at the new funnel.

 

The funnel touched down, crashing into the real estate office, sending bricks and debris across the street, towards them.

 

“EVERYONE INSIDE! ITS NOT SAFE OUT HERE!” Alvin called, they all made their way towards the bank, except for Valka, who stopped by the Titus as a car slid across the road, turning and slamming into another parked one.

 

…

 

“Dad look out!” Tommy called as the twister made its way behind them, making them swerve and spin until they hit another car.

 

Glass shattered all over them, denting the driver’s door and locking Stoick in. “Get out!” Stoick told Tommy, who followed his orders and jumped out of the car, his father soon following.

 

Tommy ran into the bank, Alvin holding the door open for him, Stoick was close behind when a car was dropped in front of the doors, seconds after Tommy was safely inside.

 

“Tommy!” Stoick called to his son. He was drawn from his thoughts when he heard a familiar voice.

 

“Stoick!” Valka called to her husband who, as well as her, was trapped outside. The twister got closer, and somehow stronger, having strong winds sucking anything light enough inside. Val, was one of those light things. Thankfully, the door to the Titus was open, and she was able to grab the handle. But due to the rain they had had, it was fairly slippery and difficult to hold onto as her feet were lifted off the ground. She did the only thing she could think of, she screamed.

 

Stoick saw his wife, holding on to the door for dear life as the strong winds tried to suck her into the large cyclone. 

 

“Hold on!” he called, running to the door, trying not to be sucked away in the wind. He used the door to hold him in place as he held Valka’s wrists. She was almost flying, Stoicks hands being the only things holder her to the ground.

 

Inside, Tommy stared in horror as his parents held onto each other for dear life. “MOM! DAD, oh gods! No, no, no, no, NO!”

 

And just like that, it stopped. As quickly as it came, the twister dispersed and roped out, disappearing. With the lack of suction, Valka and Stoick fell to the ground. They landed next to each other, on their backs, looking up at the clouds.

 

Stoick reached over and placed his hand on Valka’s, making sure she was still there. “You alright?” he asked breathlessly.

 

She nodded before responding. “Yeah. I-I’m alright.” she got out.

 

They sat up, Stoick resting a hand on Valka’s shoulder before pulling her into a hug. Valka wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck and held there. She’d missed him so much while she was away. But she was missing two of her other boys just as much. 

 

“Dad, Mom!” Tommy called as him and the stormchasers make their way out of the window of the bank, since there was a truck blocking the door.

 

Valka looked up to see Tommy running to her. Quickly, she stood up, ready to grasp her son in her arms for the first time in months. What she wasn’t expecting to be hit by a train. Tommy was running so quickly towards her that he rammed into her, full force, almost knocking her to the ground if it weren’t for Stoick’s supportive hand on her back. 

 

“Are you guys okay?” Tommy mumbled into his mom’s shoulder as he embraced her.

 

Stoick responded for her. “We’re both fine.” he said with a smile, joining the embrace. Their family was almost complete.

 

They broke apart and smiled at one another, but Valka’s soon fell. “Where’s Hiccup?” she asked, looking around for her eldest son.

 

Stoick took a breath, trying to figure out how to explain where Hiccup was.  _ Hiccup is with Astrid at the abandoned paper mill on Garner and we don’t even know if they’re okay because when I called he didn’t want to pick up because we got in a fight this morning about stupid things like we usually do and when he did pick up I didn’t get to tell him that there was a tornado in the area because the line cut out and not me and Tommy are going to go find him. Would you like to tag along?  _ he thought in his head.  _ Yes that will go well _ . Thankfully, he didn’t have to say anything because Tommy spoke for him.

 

“Hiccup is at the old paper mill. On Garner.” Tommy said simply.

 

Valka gave him a look. “What? Why would he-”

 

“He was helping Astrid with a video project.”

 

“Hofferson?”

 

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Why does everyone ask that? Yes, Hofferson! How many Astrid’s are in all of Berk that there could possible be another besides Astrid flipping Hofferson!” he yelled.

 

“Calm down, son!” Stoick said, placing a hand on Tommy’s shoulder.

 

Tommy took a breath, fiddling with his video camera that was still in his hands. “Sorry, but c-can we go now?” he asked. “Please?”

 

Stoick nodded, before looking over his shoulder at where their car… was. It was buried under a red minivan and had a lamp post sticking out of the back window. “Shit,” he muttered. 

 

“Let’s go Valka! These storms aren’t gonna chase themselves!” Alvin called from the fully operational Titus.

 

Valka looked up to see Calum and Eric, both ready to go, waiting for her. “I-I, uh- just give me a minute.” she responded, walking towards the van.

 

“Val!” Stoick called, walking up to her, Tommy right behind him. “Can you take us?” he asked.

 

“Sorry, no ‘tourists’.” Alvin said quickly, walking towards the group. 

 

Stoick looked at the man, who he used to know quite well. “Please, my car is totaled.” 

 

Alvin looked up at his old friend. “Where are you headed in this weather anyway?” he asked.

 

“The old paper mill on Garner.” Stoick replied. Alvin gave him a questioning look. “You know what mill I’m talking about Al!” 

 

Alvin shook his head. “Yes I do, but why would you be heading there now! The first twister headed right over that old thing! It’s wrecked!”

 

Alvin’s words panicked the small family. Val already knew the tornado went that far north but she didn’t think much of it at the time. But she was still the first to speak up. “My son’s in there.” she said sternly. 

 

Alvin looked at each of them with a slightly shocked and remorseful eye. He’d just told his friends that their son was in a building that was destroyed and flattened.  _ Good job Alvin! _ He knew he would have to help them in some way. 

 

“Yes, you can come.” he sighed. They all seemed to let out a breath of relief and Alvin pointed a finger at Stoick. “Just as far as Garner. We’ve still got twister’s to chase!”

 

“You can come in the van with me.” Val said, walking slowly towards the blue van where Eric was waiting.

 

Alvin was about to turn back and climb in the Titus, when he saw the camera in Tommy’s hand. “I’ll take the kid with the camera.” he said, gesturing to Tommy.

 

Tommy looked at Alvin, and then at the Titus. “Really?” he asked. Alvin nodded. “Sweet.”

 

“Oh no.” Stoick said. “ _ You _ , are coming with me.”

 

“The Titus is the safest place for him, Stoick.”

 

Stoick looked over at Valka for backup, but he got the opposite. “He’s right, it’s a tank.” When she saw Stoicks unsure look, she added: “We’ll be right behind him.”

 

Stoick raised his hand pointing a finger at Alvin. “Just as far a Garner.” he said, quoting his friends words. 

 

Alvin chuckled. “Yes sir!” he said with a salut.

 

Stoick chuckled.  _ Good old Alvin _ .

 

**…**

 

“How’s your leg?” Astrid asked, from her spot next to Hiccup, who was resting his head against the ‘wall’, eyes shut.

 

He nodded slightly. “Okay.” he said tiredly.

 

Astrid looked down at her hands. There had been an awkward silence between them after their little talk after they got down there. She hated it. Not being stuck with him, no she was glad to have some time to catch up with him, but she hated that it was like this, she hated that this was for  _ her _ project, she hated the fact that she hadn’t really talked to him in years, she hated how awkward and distant they were, she hated the fact that  _ he could die _ .

 

There was something she always liked about Hiccup. She liked how he wasn’t afraid to be himself. She liked how he wasn’t all over her like Scott was (even though she knew he had a crush on her), she liked how kind and caring he is, she liked his sarcastic, witty remarks (even if sometimes it was at an inappropriate time), she liked how smart he was, she liked the way his forest green eyes lit up when he saw her, she liked how cute he looked when he was embarrassed, she liked the sound of his voice, she liked every single freckle that dotted his adorable face, she liked  _ him _ .

 

She sat there for a moment, running through her thoughts. She liked Hiccup. She  _ liked _ Hiccup. She knew deep down she always has, but she never actually  _ thought  _ about it.  _   
_ _ Great _ . She told herself.  _ You finally realize you like the guy and now he might die down here in a hole because of you!  _

 

A groan of pain interrupted her thoughts. She looked over at Hiccup, his face was scrunched up in pain and his hands gripped his upper left leg. 

 

“You okay?” she asked in concern, crawling down to his injured leg and started to untie it. 

 

He nodded slowly. “Ya, just the leg - _ really  _ hurts!” he said, hissing in pain.

 

Once she got the black, well, it was more of a dark red now, sweater off, she took a good look at the wound. It was bigger than she thought. About an inch tall and stretched across the top of his left shin. Thankfully it was scabbing over, but there was yellow pus and some more blood oozing out of the open area. The skin all around it was flaming red and agitated. Astrid didn’t have to take the medical course this year to know that it was not the best sight, but it was better than the crimson blood that coated the leg before.

 

“H-How is it?” Hiccup asked, not really looking at it. Astrid was thankful for that.

 

“I-It’s barely bleeding now, almost completely scabbed over.” she said, trying to sound calm.

 

There was a moment of silence before Hiccup spoke up once more. “I’m gonna die, aren’t I?”

 

Astrid didn't know how to respond to that. She knew it was a possibility but she never fully accepted it. She opened her mouth to tell him otherwise but Hiccup spoke first.

 

“Yep. I’m gonna die.” He said, nodding his head slightly.

 

“Hiccup, sto-”

 

“No, better yet, I’m gonna die in a hole. Wow Scott, you were actually right about something for once.”

 

“Hicc-”

 

“And to think I spent a week filming time capsules about people's futures and I won’t even have one! How funny is that!” 

 

His sarcasm was not appreciated by Astrid. And she snapped. “STOP IT!” she yelled.

 

Hiccup sat there, looking at her as if she had said it in a normal tone. She took a breath. “Just  _ stop _ .” she pleaded. He did as he was told, watching painfully as she re-tied the sweater around his wound. “I’m sick of people I love dying.” she muttered, thinking that Hiccup couldn’t hear her, but he did.

 

She crawled back up and sat down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Hiccup flinched slightly, not expecting it, but soon relaxed and put his arm around her shoulders, comfortingly. Astrid used her left arm to punch Hiccup on the shoulder. 

 

He flinched. “ _ Why _ would you do that!?” he asked, annoyed and in slight pain.

 

“ _ That  _ was for thinking you were gonna die.” she said, sitting up so she could look him in the eyes. She gave him a peck on the cheek, before realizing what she did and looked away, blushing slightly and resting her head on his shoulder once more. 

  
“That was for everything else.”


	6. The Painful Truth

“Trying to get a hold of Hiccup?” Valka asked from the driver's seat of the van. She kept looking ahead at the Titus and back at Stoick, who kept trying his phone to contact their eldest son.

 

Stoick nodded, not looking up. “Yes.” he said, sighing as his phone beeped reading ‘ _ No Service _ ’.

 

There was an awkward silence before Valka broke it. “So,”she started, breaking the ice between them. “How has everyone been?” she asked, trying to strike up a conversation. But she really did wonder. She’d been gone for five months because of this project and she wanted to know how everything was doing since she left.

 

Stoick nodded. “Good.”he said simply. Once the awkwardness lifted he kept going. “A little stressful. You know, with the graduation and everything. Gobber seems to be doing quite well with everything. But then again, he doesn’t have two teenagers to that he has to help study for exams.” he chuckled slightly. “They’re smart, but studying helps.”

 

Val chuckled with him. “Well, they think they know everything at their age. But that’s mostly true.”

 

“Aye.” Stoick agreed.

 

The silence continued. Their relationship was distant since she’d been away. With limited contact it made it slightly awkward to be thrown back together unexpectedly.

 

“H-how have they been?” Valka asked. “The boys?”

 

Stoick took a breath. “Uh,” he started. “They’ve been… alright. Tommy is still doing Track and Hiccup is still doing his… computer stuff…” he trailed off.

 

Valka huffed.”She wasn’t buying it. “What happened between you two now?” she asked.

 

Stoick was taken aback. “Wha- n-nothing. We’re fine.” he said.

 

Valka nodded, still not believing him. “That’s what you said when he was twelve and guess what happened?” When he didn’t answer, she continued. “He became severely depressed. And do you know why?” No response. “Because you wouldn’t listen to him.” 

 

Stoick looked down. He knew she was right. When Hiccup was about twelve, end of seventh grade, Valka first started storm chasing. She had left a month before the end of the school year, right before Hiccup was outcast. He came home some nights, not speaking a word. Sometimes the only thing that would come out of his mouth all day was a muffled sob in his room at night. 

 

One day, Hiccup came home bloody and bruised. Scott and another boy, Douglas, decided that they would beat him behind the dumpsters after school because he got a better markin science than they did. Hiccup told Stoick what happened, and he told his son he needed to learn to fight back. The fact is, Hiccup did fight back. He landed a few punches on the boys, but that gave him a black eye, sprained ankle and bloody nose.

 

Stoick talked to the boys parents later on, but he still only told Hiccup he hadn’t tried hard enough and that he needed to stand up for himself. Hiccup tried to reason with his father, but got nothing more than what he was told before. They didn’t talk for almost two months. That was until one day when Hiccup passed out while riding his bike because he’d barely eaten or slept in the past month and was extremely malnourished.

 

“I know…” Stoick sighed. “When I brought him home after he got checked up at the hospital, I spent hours waiting for him to wake up. A-and when he did he barely spoke a word to me. I thought I’d lost him.” he admitted. “We managed to patch some things up but… the cracks are still there Val. One wrong word and they spread.”

 

Valka sighed, placing a hand on her husband’s arm for support. “I know.” she said softly.

 

“I’m hoping he’s alright.”

 

“I know.” Valka said, pulling the van to a stop as the Titus did before them. “I am too.”

 

A voice came through the radio. “ _ Tree’s down. _ ” Eric's voice told them. “ _ We’re stuck. _ ” 

 

Another voice came through to them. This time, bringing better news. “ _Moorpark. Right, Dad?_ ” Tommy asked. “ _It's about three miles west. It might be clear that far out._ ”

 

“Thanks Tommy.” Val said back through the radio. She was thankful her son was an A in geography. 

 

“ _ Doubling back to Moorpark. _ ” Alvin instructed and they made their way back. 

 

…

 

Hiccup and Astrid sat silently together while waiting for either a cell signal or a rescue. But neither of those were given to them quite yet. Astrid was lost in thought while Hiccup was resting. His head was back making his freckles stand out in the light. Astrid would have thought it was cute if it wasn’t for the slight pained expression displayed on his face. 

 

“I can feel you staring at me Astrid.” Hiccup said, surprising said person. He opened his eyes to look at her. “What’s on your mind?”

 

She looked down at her hands. “Everything over the past five years.” she admitted, hesitantly.

 

Hiccup looked down at his lap. “Oh,” he breathed out.

 

She snuck a look up at him, seeing a slightly pained expression crossing his face again. And she knew it wasn’t from his leg. “Wha-H-how were you holding up? O-over those five years?” she asked, hesitantly. Trying to strike up a conversation.

 

He sighed, shaking his head lightly. “I know I can’t lie to you and this probably isn’t the best time but I’m going to be completely honest. Okay?” When she nodded, he continued. “I wasn’t doing to well. I’d just lost all my friends, some of them would even pound me till I bled, my mom would be gone for months at a time, me and my dad didn’t have the greatest relationship and I wound up becoming depressed.”

 

Astrid stared at him, mouth slightly agape. “I didn’t know you were depressed…” she trailed off.

 

Hiccup chuckled slightly, nodding his head. “Well, something you didn’t know about me is that I was, and still am, really good at hiding my emotions.”

 

She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Hiccup. I-If I had known…” she trailed off, looking down. She caught him scratching his wrist. A thought hit her like a train. “Oh my, oh gods please tell me- y-you weren’t cutting were you?” she asked, terrified.

 

He snapped his head up. “Wh-what? No! No I didn’t cut!” he looked back down at his hands. “I-I starved myself.” he mumbled. 

 

“I-I’m sorry. What did you say? You were  _ starving _ yourself?”

 

He nodded. “Yeah. I barely ate, or slept, over the course of a month, or so.” he said. “I passed out while I was riding my bike one day. According to dad I was in the hospital for a few hours before he brought me home. I-it took me almost two days to wake up after that. A-and I barley spoke for almost another month after that.” He took a breath. It felt good to get that out after a few years. There was a lot more that had happened over the years, some things he wished had never happened, but this was good. he felt like the weight was being lifted off of him with every word.

 

Astrid took his hand in hers. “I’m so, so sorry Hiccup.” she said, tears brimming her eyes. She would not let them fall. Hofferson's don’t cry. 

 

There was a long silence between them before Hiccup finally asked what had been nagging him over the past hour. “What did you mean?” he asked.

 

She looked up at him, brow scrunched in confusion. “What are you talking about?” 

 

“What you said earlier about loved ones dying.” When she didn’t respond, he pressed forward. “What loved ones were you talking about?”

 

She took a breath. “M-my parents.” she admitted. “A few years before I met you or the gang, my parents died in a car accident. My mom died at the scene, my father was taken to the hospital.” She sniffled slightly, Hiccup tightened his hold on her hand. “I went to see him, with my uncle. The doctors said he most likely wouldn’t make it. But, I was six and always had hope.” A few tears ran down her cheeks, it was almost impossible to fight them. “H-he flatlined right in front of me.”

 

She broke down right there. Hiccup grabbed her and pulled her close, letting her cry on his shoulder. He rubbed her back soothingly while she gripped his shirt, letting her tears soak it. He didn’t care. He’d known her since he was seven, and no one had ever heard about what happened to her parents. She calmed down moments later, her sobbing reduced to uneven breathing. She pulled away, wiping her eyes.  

 

“I’m sorry.” she said pulling away, embarrassed.

 

He brushed it off. “It’s alright.” he reassured her.

 

He shifted his weight so he was sitting straight up against the wall. That was his mistake. Out of habit, he used his left leg to support his weight and push him up. Three sickening snaps were heard followed by Hiccup screaming in pain. 

 

Astrid snapped up. “What is it? What happened?” she asked worriedly.

 

He gestured down to his leg shakily before crying loudly in pain again as he shifted it by accident.

 

Astrid rushed to his leg, becoming more worried as he saw a red stain growing below the original wound. There was also a fairly good sized bump under his pant leg. She took a breath before beginning to roll up the pant leg slowly, mumbling ‘ _ sorry _ ’ as Hiccup cried out in pain again. What she saw made her want to throw up. The bone in his leg had broken. She could tell by the odd angle his leg was sitting on, and the fact that one of the bones had burst through the skin of his shin and was sticking right out. 

 

“Oh god.” she whispered, untying the sweater from around his upper leg and throwing it over the broken and bleeding limb. “Okay, I’m going to tie this around the break tightly to stop the bleeding. It may push the bone back in slightly so It will be painful. Okay?” 

  
She didn't get a response of any kind. Worried she looked up to see Hiccup. Head lolled to the side, eyes closed. She feared the worst. Checking his wrist for a pulse, she sighed in relief as she felt the steady ‘ _ tha-thump _ ’ of his heart beat. Realizing he had just passed out from the pain, she slowly began to tie the sweater around the wound. Trying her hardest not to pass out herself.


	7. Faults and Pipes

“Woah,” Tommy breathed as he climbed into the turret of the Titus and swiveled it around. “This thing’s awesome!” 

 

Alvin smiled. “She’s a beast.” he commented. He caught Calum out of the corner of his eye, staring blankly into space. “Hey,” he asked, snapping the man out of his thoughts. “You alright?”

 

Calum nodded sheepishly. “Y-Yeah. I’m fine.” 

 

Alvin knew he was thinking about their rough conversation earlier. He sighed. “Look, I know I yell at you a lot. But listen.” He took a breath. He was going to admit it. “When I first started, I was scared shitless too. But I promise you, when the time comes, you’re gonna be fine.”

 

Calum gave him a weak smile before looking back out the window. The radio soon buzzed and Valka’s voice rang through.

 

“ _ It's headed fast in this direction. I got three small hook echoes. Maybe four. _ ” she said. Alvin and Calum looked up at the sky, seeing nothing but clouds. “ _ Are you getting  _ any _ visual _ ?”

 

Alvin sighed. “Nothing yet.” He spared a glance behind him. “You see anything up there, kid?”

 

Tommy shook his head, looking up. “Nope just clouds.” Then he saw it. “Wait, wait over there! On the left!” 

 

A small, stick like funnel came right down and made contact with the ground, twisting every which direction. Unknown to them, there were more forming.

 

“Movement to the northeast Cal!” Alvin yelled, gesturing for Calum to point his camera in that direction. 

 

“ _ Guys it’s splitting! _ ” Valka called. “ _ We’re gonna have another funnel _ .”

 

Alvin looked to the right, seeing another funnel touch down not too far from them. “On the right!” He announced.

 

Tommy did a full circle in the turret, gaping at what he saw. “There’s another! Two,” he turned around to the back. “Three, four, shit they’re everywhere!”

 

“We’ve got multiple vortices touching down!” Eric told his boss from his place in the back seat.

 

“ _ Alvin, these systems are too erratic we’ve got to get out of here! _ ” Valka called desperately.

 

Alvin nodded his head, looking forward for some place to wait out the storm. Up ahead, he spotted a gas station followed by a fairly large red brick church. “Head to the church!” he replied through the radio.

 

Just behind them, one of the twisters got too close, making the blue van with Stoick and Valka inside fishtail and sway until they were thrown into a ditch across from the gas station. The van was on an odd angle, trapping the doors on the right side against the wet earth. 

 

“Dad!” Tommy cried. 

 

Alvin looked in the rear view mirror to see the familiar blue van tipped over in the ditch. “Hold on!” he called, doing a tight U-turn.

 

The twister had picked up a few stray cars from the side of the road and tossed them hundreds of feet into the air. One of the cars was flung straight at the Titus.

 

“Look out!” Tommy warned.

 

Alvin saw the car and managed to turn the Titus just out of the way, the car merely bumping the vehicle. But due to the wet, slick road, the Titus spun until it finally stopped, a few meters from a large fallen tree.  

 

“Let’s go! Everybody out!” He instructed.

 

They jumped out of the Titus and ran to assisi Stoick and Valka who were trying to exit the van. Calum filming the destruction that was taking place as a car was flung onto the gas station, causing a fairly large explosion. In the van, Stoick and Valka managed to get the back door of the van open and climbed out. 

 

“You guys okay?” Eric asked in concern, helping them out the back.

 

Stoick nodded before spotting his son. “Tommy! You alright?” he asked loudly to be heard over the wind. 

 

Tommy nodded. Once spotting his mom, he and the others made their way towards the church. One of the four twisters found it’s way into the massive fire where the gas station once stood. It sucked the flames in, making the twister glow bright orange as it was engulfed in flames. Calum stopped running, a few meters from the safety of the church and held up his camera.

 

“This is amazing!” he yelled in awe of the firenado before him.  **(Its a real thing!)** “I’ve got to get this!”

 

Valka, being one of the last to reach the church, caught him out of the corner of her eye. “Calum!” she cried in worry. The firenado was a few feet from him at this point.

 

Stoick, hearing Valka’s cry, went out to see what was happening. Seconds after he got out, he saw Calum be ripped off his feet by a small explosion from the twister, and sucked into it.

 

“No! Calum!” Valka cried, running towards where her best friend once stood.

 

Stoick ran to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, holding her back. “He’s gone, Val!” he told her solemnly.

 

They entered the church, shutting the large doors and climbing over the benches. They each hit the ground and covered their heads. The wind from the tornadoes shook the building violently. But after a few minutes, it all stopped. The wind died down significantly and the only sound to be heard was the flickering of the flames from outside.

 

**…**

 

A loud clang of metal on metal woke Hiccup violently. He jumped slightly, before groaning due to the pain in his leg. “Ow, w-what?” he asked, looking around.

 

Ahead of him, he saw Astrid holding a small metal bar over some sort of metal object. When she saw he was awake she sighed in relief. 

 

“Thank god you’re not dead.” she breathed out.

 

Hiccup rubbed his head. “Last time I checked.” he joked. “What happened?”

 

Astrid went next to him and sat down, placing a hand on his arm comfortingly. “Your leg was more damaged than we thought. The bone must’ve been fractured and when you put your weight on it…” she trailed off.

 

Hiccup looked down at his leg. “Oh,” was all he could say. He knew this was bad. He knew he needed actual medical help. But for now, a sweater would have to do.

 

They sat in silence before a loud clang rang through the area. Astrid perked up. “did you hear that?”

 

They sat in silence before they heard another clang and a creak. “Hello?” Hiccup called.

 

“Hey! Hey we’re down here!” Astrid yelled, standing up. “Hello?!”

 

A loud bang was heard before the two teens were drenched in water leaking through the holes in their ‘roof’. They both gasped at the freezing temperature of the water. 

 

“What’s happened?” Astrid asked in shock. trying to block the water.

 

Hiccup coughed and looked up through a crack to see a pipe looming over them and water spilling from it. “I-I think a pipe burst!” he called.

 

“Oh gods!” 

 

**…**

 

Stoick stood up, helping Valka stand from their spot between the benches. He looked around seeing Alvin and Eric stand, but no Tommy. He instantly grew worried.

 

“Tommy? Tommy!” He called desperately.

 

“I’m here, Dad.” Tommy replied calmly, standing from the benches on the other side of the church.

 

Valka looked at the doors. Calum wouldn’t be coming back. She sniffled slightly over the loss of her friend. Stoick heard her and turned her to face him. “Are you alright Val?” He asked, lifting her chin to meet her eyes.

 

She nodded, a silent tear ran down her cheek. “I-I’m alright. I just can’t help but feel like all of this is my fault!” she let out a sob and Stoick pulled her close, hushing her and rubbing her back.

 

Stoick looked over his wife's shoulder at his son. “Tommy, is there any cell service?” he asked.

 

The boy shook his head. “Nothing yet.” he said, walking over to his parents.

 

Valka sniffled again. “Everything is my fault.” she muttered.

 

Stoick pulled her close. “It’s not your fault. Nothing is. Not Calum, not Hiccup. Nothing.” he whispered to her.

 

Valka shook her head into his shoulder. “Stoick, It’s my job to look after my sons and I wasn’t around when they needed me! When Hiccup needed me!” she let out another sob, fighting not to break down completely.

 

Tommy put a hand on his mother's arm. “No, i-it’s my fault. I told Hiccup to go talk to Astrid and now…” he trailed off. Not willing to admit the possibility. 

 

Valka raised her head. “Honey, it’s not your fault. Okay?” she told him. She put a hand on her son's shoulder. “Let’s go find your brother.” she said with a small smile of determination.

 

Alvin walked up behind her. “Val,” he started. Valka turned to face him, thinking he would prevent her from leaving. But he surprised her. “Be careful out there.”

  
She smiled, giving him a small nod. “You too Alvin.” And her and her family headed out of the church.


	8. A Message, A Goodbye

“We’ve gotta close the gap!” Hiccup yelled over the sound of the rushing water around them. In a sitting position, the water was almost past his chest and up to his neck. They would soon be trapped and drown if they couldn’t get out.

 

Astrid was standing by one of the larger holes. She tried desperately to block it, but they had no resources. “I’m trying! Nothing’s working!” she said, lowering her hands in defeat. A thought occurred to her. “Do you have your phone?” she asked.

 

Before Hiccup could answer, another bang was heard and they were drenched with twice the water as before. “Another pipe went!” he realized. Now they were definitely going to be dead within the hour. 

 

“Oh gods!” Astrid breathed in shock, running a hand through her soaked hair. If this wasn’t stressful she didn’t know what was.

 

Hiccup reached to the ledge, next to his camera and pulled his phone down. Unlocking it slowly with shaking fingers. He sighed as he saw that there was still no service. “Can you help me stand?” he asked Astrid.

 

She nodded slowly and approached him. She kneeled down and placed one arm under his and he placed his arm on top of her shoulders for support. “Ready?” When he nodded she continued. “On three. One, two, three!”

 

With a groan in pain, Hiccup was finally back on his feet- foot. He, with the help of Astrid, hobbled over to the wall and leaned against it. Breathing heavily, he tried calling his dad. Still no service. “It’s still down!” he said. 

 

Astrid looked at her feet, and then at the debris trapping them. “Try the hole! The gap, right there!” she said, pointing to the gap right in front of them.

 

Leaning forward, Hiccup reached a hand through the gap. He could have jumped in joy when he saw the lone bar appear in the corner of the screen. “Oh gods! There’s a bar! There's a bar!” he gasped out, quickly dialing his dad.

 

“Put it on speaker!” Astrid said, and he did so.

 

Hiccup was disappointed to hear the sound of his father’s voice mail. “ _ You’ve reached Stoick. Leave a message _ .” 

 

And he did just that. “D-Dad! Dad, please help us! T-the building fell down on top of us and there’s water pouring in! I-I don’t know how long we’ve got!” His phone buzzed before showing the logo and shutting down. “Dad!” he cried desperately. But it was done. “It’s dead. I-it’s dead. I-I’m sorry.” he breathed out.

 

Astrid took a deep breath to calm herself. “D-do you think it went?” she asked, shivering slightly due to the coldness of the water.

 

Hiccup shook his head. “I don’t know.” he said, quietly. He leaned back against the wall, helping him rest his one good leg. “I don’t know.”

 

At this point, the water was now half way up their waists. It was rising quicker than before. Giving their rescue less time to arrive.

 

**…**

 

Stoick, Tommy and Valka took the van and headed back on their route to Garner. They were only ten to fifteen minutes away by car, and Stoick was getting anxious.

 

His phone buzzed, and he sighed in relief as he saw that he finally had cell service. And he got even more relaxed as he saw the screen read: ‘ _ One New Message: Hiccup. _ ’. “He’s sent me a message.” He told everyone.

 

Placing the phone on speaker, he played the message. “ _ D-Dad! Dad, please help us! T-the building fell down on top of us and there’s water pouring in! I-I don’t kn-w ho- l-ng w-ve -ot! _ ” His relief was once again replaced with worry as the message came to a stop. 

 

“Oh my gods,” Valka whispered, reaching her hand across and placing it on her husband's arm, not looking away from the road. 

 

Tommy put his head in his hands from stress. He couldn’t help but feel like it was still his fault. He ran his fingers through his hair and tried his best to keep his breathing calm.

 

**…**

 

Hiccup held up his camera, still leaning against the wall, and pointed it at Astrid. The water level was just above the base of her neck, and pretty soon, it would reach her head.

 

He turned it on, thanking the gods that it was waterproof, and began recording. “O-okay. Go.” he told her.

 

She took a shaky breath, holding back her tears. “U-Uncle Finn…” she started. “I just wanna thank you for everything. I was gonna come down the stairs this morning to say goodbye ...but when I came you were already gone.” She sniffled a little, but continued. “You should know I'm not alone. H-Hiccup's here. He's been really sweet. So it's kind of o-okay. I love you so much.” She was almost in tears when Hiccup passed her the camera.

 

**(It’s kinda long. Like 300 words by itself.)**

He took a shaking breath and started. “Guess what? I spent the last week filming time capsules

about people's futures...a-and now it looks like I don't have one. So...if there's no future...w-we should talk about t-the past.” He nodded his head, agreeing with himself. The water had gotten higher and almost reached his chin. “Um… some bad shit happened along the way. Y-you know, like it does to everybody, I guess. And… a-and I-I couldn’t keep going, Dad. I blamed you. I really gave you shit, and I-I wish I hadn't. So wish I hadn't. No point in wishing now?” he trailed off, looking down at the rising water and his damaged leg. “Um… what do I wanna say? Um… Go easy on Tommy. H-he's gonna tell you that this is all his fault. This was his idea. B-but it wasn't. I-it's just Trey. His attention-seeking behavior. My idea… m-my fault.” He was shaking slightly. Partly because of the cold, and partly because he was holding back tears. But, he pushed forward. “T-Tommy, you should be the person you always were, dude, because y-you're awesome. You're awesome and I'm proud of you...and just live every day like it's your last. B-because, shit, someday i-it will be. And for once, I know what I'm talking about. M-mom, I-I really miss you, when you’re away. A-and I wish I would have told you before you left, b-but I didn’t. I-I love you. I-I’m sorry this will be the first time you s-see me in months. But j-just know that I love you.” He had a few tears running down his face, but he held strong. “And, Dad… Dad, I love y-you. I really love you and I-I'm sorry. Okay, I'm sorry. Okay? Sorry…” He trailed off.

 

Astrid stopped the camera and put it down on a ledge. She had a few stray tears running down her face as well. They pulled each other into a tight hug, trying to comfort one another. Astrid put her face in his shoulder, breathing in his scent. She then lifted her head to rest it on his shoulder. She decided to strike up a conversation.

 

“W-what’s your real n-name?” she asked, curiously. “I-I never knew it because everybody calls you H-Hiccup.”

 

He took a breath. He hadn’t said his real name in a long time. “M-my full name i-is H-Harrison Henry H-Haddock th-the Third.” he got out, chuckling at his long name.

 

Astrid chuckled. “T-the third? There were tw-two more?”

 

He nodded slightly. “W-way back, though. I-If I were j-just Harrison Henry Haddock I’b be a-almost two hundred years old.” he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. Then his face got serious. “Um… Astrid?” he asked.

 

“Mmmhmmm?” she asked, not loosening her hold on him. She was quite content where she was.

 

“I-I just wanted to tell you t-this. I, um… I-I’ve kind had a-a crush on you, f-for the longest time, a-actually.” He took a breath. He finally got it out. Too bad they were going to die in about five minutes. “I-I just wanted t-to tell you. Since we pr-probably won’t make i-it out of here… I-I like you Astrid… a-a lot...s-sorry...” he trailed off. She would probably punch him or be weirded out or something, so he pulled away, only to be pulled back a second later. 

 

Astrid tightened her grip on him, resting her head just under his. “I-It’s okay.” she whispered. “I-I like you too.” she admitted, a small smile on her face. “I-I think I kind of always h-have. I j-just didn’t realize u-until now.”

 

Hiccup was frozen. Both from the water, and what Astrid had just said. He must be dreaming, or he’s already dead. Because he thought he just heard Astrid say she-. His thoughts were cut off when her lips met his. It took him a moment before he melted into the kiss. Her hands were around his neck and his rested on her back, holding her close. They pulled away for air and just held each other in a tight hug, the water was just past their chins and almost over their lips.

 

“I-I can’t help but feel guilty th-that when I finally realize I like you, we’re both gonna di-die.” She spat a little bit of water out of her mouth.

  
He held her close, a small smile played on his lips. “Well, I-I don’t know about y-you, but I-I can at least die h-happy…”


	9. Breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AKA the chapter in which I made 90% of my readers cry (NO REGRETS)

Stoick was running his hands through his flaming red hair as they got closer and closer to their destination. Valka was going over the speed limit by at least ten MPH, but she didn’t care. She needed to get to her son, nobody was on the road anyway. Tommy was in the back, his hands on his head, elbows resting on his knees as he tried not to think about the possibility of his brother being dead.

 

“Come on.” Val muttered angrily as she waited to see the sign that said ‘Garner’ on it. She knew it was coming she just wish it would come faster. 

 

They kept driving, and soon came across a tractor, with a magon attached, stopped on the side of the road. In the back were tons of people, old and young. They pulled up next to it, rolling down the passenger window.

 

“Is everybody alright?” Stoick asked.

 

The young man driving nodded. “Yeah, I’m just trying to find them some shelter.” he said, gesturing to the people in the back.

 

“Take them to the school.” Stoick instructed. “We have a storm shelter.”

 

The man nodded, about to drive forward, but turned his head to look back at Stoick. “Be careful out there. All the warning sirens are down. If a tornado is headed your way you’re not gonna know it!” he warned, and drove off.

 

The three continues for a few minutes, which felt like hours for the stressed family, until they came across Garner.

 

Stoick almost jumped out of his seat. “Turn left! Here!” he said hurriedly.

 

Valka did as she was told, no questions asked. They pulled up to the factory and jumped out of the van, looking around. The place was flattened. Where walls once stood, a new floor of smashed brick was placed. There was debris everywhere.

 

Stoick heart beat quickened. “Hiccup?!” he called, desperately, searching the debris. 

 

Choruses of ‘Hiccup?!’ and ‘Astrid?!’ rang through the area, but no reply was heard. Then Tommy found something.

 

“Hey!” he yelled, calling everyone's attention. He held up a small camera bag and a mangled tripod. “It’s Hiccup’s!”

 

Stoick panicked. Hiccups stuff was here, but where was he? Valka pulled him from his thoughts.

 

“Over here!” she called. Stoick and Tommy were there in moments. She pointed up at two pipes, busted open and water spilling from them. “He said there was water coming in, right?”

 

Stoick froze. he heard a small noise, not like metal or water. But like a person. “Everybody quiet.” he said, listening. “Hiccup?” he asked quietly.

 

Then they heard it. Faint and bubbled, like someone was talking underwater, was a voice. It took them a moment to decipher what it was saying. 

 

“D-ad-d!” the voice cried. They knew instantly who it was.

 

“Hiccup!” they all seemed to cry out at once. Stoick and Tommy raced to where they heard the noise, where as Valka went to the other side, where she saw some bubbles and a flicker of blonde. Astrid.

 

Stoick removed a metal sheet to reveal a medium sized gap. Too small for a person to get through, but large enough to fit their head. Hiccup was in there. Head mostly submerged in water, only his eyes, nose, mouth and a bit of his ears peaked out. He tried to speak, but kept gasping and coughing for air.

 

“I’ve got you!” Stoick called, gripping his son's hand tightly. “I’ve got you, son!”

 

“I found Astrid!” Valka called from the other side, waving her hand in the air. 

 

Tommy looked around frantically. Neither Hiccup or Astrid could escape because of the debris. Then, he noticed it. A large beam lay across the whole portion of the hole. If they could move it, it would push the other debris out of the way and they could get out.

 

“We’ve gotta move this beam!” Tommy said, trying to push the large, heavy beam out of the way. But it wouldn’t move. Stoick walked over to help, but the wet ground didn’t help them with traction, and the beam was too heavy. 

 

Tommy looked around, spotting the van. An idea struck him like a lightning bolt. He ran to it quickly.

 

Stoick looked at his younger son in confusion. “What are you doing!?” he asked.

 

Tommy opened the driver's door and hopped inside. “Get out of the way!” he called, shutting the door and starting the van.

 

Stoick’s eyes widened. He knew what Tommy was trying to do. “Tell her to get down!” Stoick yelled to valka, who nodded and did so. Stoick kneeled down next to his son. “Get under! We’re gonna move this beam!”

 

“O-ay!” Hiccup got out, dunking under the water.

 

Seconds after he did so, Tommy drove the van straight into the bam, swinging it to the side. What they didn’t know, is that when they did that, another, smaller beam, swung down. It had straps attached to it on each side, that were attached to another beam on the floor of the hole. When it swung down, the straps pulled it tight and right down to the bottom. What was in between those two beams, was Hiccup’s left leg.

 

He cried out in pain from under the water, wasting all his air. Some water went down his throat, and when he went to cough, he breathed more water in and choked on it. He lay there, close to the bottom, trapped. He couldn’t breathe. And soon he couldn’t feel anything around him. And eventually, he couldn’t see. His world had gone black.

 

Valka pulled Astrid out the second the girl resurfaced. She gave the girl her rain coat and pulled her close, trying to warm her. Stoick, was not doing the same. Hiccup had not resurfaced.

 

“Hiccup?!” Stoick called desperately. Nothing. Fearing the worst, he ripped his jacket off and dove into the water.

 

Stoick looked around, finally spotting his son. Hiccup was unconscious, floating limply under the water. Stoick wondered why his body did not float, until he saw the beam crushing his son’s leg. He tried desperately to remove it. Until he ran out of air himself. Before he resurfaced, he took note of the straps holding the beam down.

 

When he resurfaced, he wasted no time reaching into his jacket and pulling out the pocket knife Tommy had earlier, and diving back down with a deep gulp of air. Quickly, he cut the straps and shoved the beam to the side. Hiccups body floated lifelessly upwards. his hair flowing in the water, his mouth slightly agape and eyes closed shut gently. Stoick closed the knife and grabbed his son under the arms, taking him to the surface. 

 

Tommy was crouched on all fours, looking down at the water for his father and brother. Moments later, Stoick resurfaced, Hiccup in his arms. Tommy helped his father pull his unconscious brother out of the water and helped his father out as well. 

 

Stoick threw the knife to the side, caring less about it, and got down on his knees next to his son. Pulling Hiccup into his arms, he rested his ear against the boy's chest. Nothing. He heard nothing. “He’s not breathing!” he yelled, panicked.

 

Valka tensed, feeling tears starting to brim her eyes. She looked at Astrid, who was staring at Hiccups lifeless body. Tears ran down the young Hofferson’s face, and Valka pulled her into a hug to comfort her, and herself.

 

Stoick placed his hands over his son's chest, fingers intertwined and began CPR. “Come on! Come on, son!” he kept muttering. After thirty compressions, his son still wasn’t breathing. He did a quick mouth-to-mouth before compressing again.

 

“Oh my god…” Tommy trailed off, almost in tears. His voice wavered, proof of how hard he was trying not to cry.

 

Stoick had a few tears himself. He couldn’t lose him. He just… couldn’t. Stoick kept pressing. he would not give up. “No…” he breathed out, giving Hiccup another breath before compressing again. “Hiccup! Come on! Breathe gods damn it!  _ Breathe! _ ”

 

Astrid was crying into Valkas shoulder, but the woman didn’t care, for she was almost doing the same. Tommy was pacing, taking shaky breaths. A few tears made it’s way down his face. Stoick had the same.

 

He kept pressing and breathing, trying to revive his son, but nothing was working. “ _ Damn it! _ ” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “ _ BREATHE! _ ” Tears ran down his face, he was almost crying. But he wouldn’t give up, yet.   

 

An just like that, Hiccup took a deep breath in, and began to cough up the water violently. Stoick tilted Hiccup onto his side so he could cough up the water. He had a huge smile on his face and a few tears running down his cheeks.

 

“Cough it up.” he said reassuringly. “Come on. Come on, son. Cough it up.” He patted Hiccups back to help get the water out of his lungs.

 

When the coughing stopped, Hiccup was laid down on Stoick’s lap. Stoick held his son close, fearing that if he let go, Hiccup would stop breathing again. Soon enough, Hiccup opened his eyes, squinting at the light.

 

“D-ad?” he choked out. His head hurt. And his chest and his leg. But he didn’t care about that right now. He coughed a little more water up, and began breathing regularly again. “-strid?” he asked. He didn’t know if Astrid made it out or not, but it was worrying him.

 

Stoick nodded. “We got her. You’re okay, you’re okay…” he whispered into Hiccup’s ear.

 

Astrid was still sobbing, but it was mostly from joy. She couldn’t stop herself. Valka was almost crying in pure joy herself. Her son had made it. He was  _ alive _ . 

 

“We got him now…” Valka kept saying. “We got him.”

 

Tommy was by his brothers side in moments, holding him along with his father. “I’m so happy you’re okay…” he trailed off.

 

Hiccup looked at his brother and gave him a weak smile. “Takes more than a… little water to kill… me…” he said lightly, still catching his breath.

 

Tommy chuckled. His father used the hand that wasn’t holding Hiccup and wrapped it around his shoulders, pulling him close.

 

“I love you, son.” Stoick whispered to Hiccup. “I love you both.  _ So _ much.”

 

Valka left Astrid, after the blonde had finally calmed down, and made her way to Hiccup's side. She kneeled down next to him, placing her hand on his cheek. He was freezing but she didn’t care. “Hey,” was all she could get out. She was too happy to see her son after many months, and to see his chest rising and falling calmly.

 

Hiccup looked over at her and smiled. “Hey Mom…” he breathed. “Long time no see…”

 

Valka chuckled lightly. “Are you alright?” she asked, just to make sure.

 

Hiccup nodded, then shrugged lightly. “Yeah… most o-of me… is...”

 

That got the family curious. Noticing their expressions, Hiccup pointed down at his left leg. No one had really looked at it until now. All they could see was the sweater. Valka moved over towards his leg dn untied the sweater. She gasped at what she saw.

 

The skin was ripped up and some fresh blood still oozed from the wound that spread down his shin. About mid-shin, there was a sharp white thing sticking right out through the skin. Valka soon realized it was the bone.

 

“Oh gods…” she trailed off. Stoick and Tommy looked down at the leg and immediately looked away. It was truly horrific. Valka quickly retired the sweater around the leg and put her head in her hands. 

 

Hiccup winced slightly as his mother tightened the sweater around his wounds. “Yeah…” he got out, gritting his teeth slightly. “It kinda did… that…”

 

Astrid finally relaxed enough to walk over and kneel down next to Hiccup. She placed her hand on his shoulder, before moving it to his cheek. “You scared me.” she said, rubbing her thumb against his face.

 

Hiccup chuckled. “I really… have to stop that…” Astrid gave him a small laugh before he continued. “You alright?” he asked, concerned.

 

Astrid looked at him. “You should be asking yourself that.” Hiccup nodded slightly. “But yeah. I’m fine.” she said with a smile, giving him a kiss on the forehead.

 

**…**

 

“There they are!” Eric called, pointing at the small group of people in front of the destroyed factory. The familiar blue van is what caught his eye.

 

Alvin nodded and turned towards them, parking the Titus next to the van. He hopped out quickly walking over to the group of people huddled on the ground next to a large hole filled, and now overflowing with water.

 

“Everybody alright?” he asked. There was a small chorus of ‘yes’ and ‘yeah’ that followed. Alvin nodded. “Good.”

 

Stoick helped Hiccup into a seated position, holding one of his son’s arms, Alvin walked over to the other and helped the boy to his fee- foot. Hiccup grunted in pain as his leg shifted, but once he was up the pain decreased. Alvin gave Hiccup a light pat on the shoulder and moved out of the way so Valka could wrap her arm around her son to support him.

 

“Alvin!” Eric called. He was in the van, looking at the monitors. “You might want to see this!”

 

Alvin walked into the van to see what was so important. “What is it?” he asked. 

 

Eric pointed at one of the monitors. It showed two large cells forming close to one another before being combined into one large cell. On another monitor, the news broadcast was playing, showing the two large twisters. 

 

“ _We now have two very large tornadoes moving towards the town of Silverton. All residents of Shaw County should seek shelter immediately._ ” The reporter said. “ _They are converging, which could generate wind speeds of up to a… There! There they go! They just converged. We are looking at wind speeds inside the funnel of over 300 miles per hour. This is definitely an EF5!_ ” Like the reporter said, the two large tornadoes converged together, creating one gargantuan funnel. 

 

Alvin gaped at the screen. “That’s the biggest tornado I’ve ever seen…” he trailed off before jumping out of the van. “Everybody!” he called, getting everyone’s attention. “Into the Titus! We have to get out of here!”

 

Valka passed Alvina  questioning look. “What’s going on?” she asked.

 

“Gigantic EF5 headed our way. It will flatten this whole town! We have to get out of here!” he told her. Valka’s eyes widened, taking her son from her husband and helped him into the Titus. 

 

Stoick stayed, looking at alvin. “We have to go to the school, to warn them! The whole town’s in there!” he said.

 

Alvin nodded, patting his old friend’s shoulder. “Then let’s pay Gobber a visit.” he joked. 

 

Stoick smiled and they made their way to the Titus. Alvin was about to close his door when he saw Eric leaving the van. “Come on, Eric!” he called.

 

Eric continued to walk until a loud crack of thunder rang through the air, followed by a fork or two. Eric jumped and ran the rest of the way to the Titus, hopping in the back with Hiccup, Astrid and Stoick.

  
Alvin started the Titus and they were off to the school. And so was the F5.


	10. Escape, maybe...

They arrived at the school faster than the EF5, thankfully. Alvin, Eric, Stoick and Valka entered the school and headed to the shelter while Tommy and Astrid stayed in the Titus with Hiccup since he couldn’t exactly walk right now. 

 

“Everybody out!” Alvin yelled, startling many people.

 

“Get up to the busses!” Stoick called as well.

 

Gobber walked up to them. “Are you mad, Stoick?!” he asked. 

 

“There’s another Tornado headed this way!” Stoick warned, pointing in the direction the tornado was supposedly coming from.

 

Gobber glared at him. “And you want us to go outside?” he asked. 

 

“You don’t understand.” Eric said.

 

“You have to, Gobber.” Alvin added. Some of the students in the room chuckled at their principles nickname.

 

Gobber ignored them. “This is the storm shelter for Thor’s sake!”

 

“Not for this.” Alvin said, shaking his head.

 

“We’ve been out there!” Stoick protested. “We know what this can do!”

 

Gobber shook his head and crossed his arms. “I’m not risking it.” he said, sternly. “I’ve got hundreds of scared people down her-”

 

“You will have hundreds of  _ dead _ people if you stay here!” Stoick yelled, pointing a finger right at Gobber.  

 

When Gobber didn’t respond, Valka spoke up. “Gobber,” she started calmly. “You know me. I’ve studied storms all my life. This is bigger than any storm that has  _ ever been _ . Can you hear that?” she asked. “It will flatten this building in seconds.”

 

Alvin nodded, impressed with her point. “Exactly.”

 

Stoick looked back at Gobber. “With or without you, we're getting these people onto those buses.” he said pointing to the stairs.

 

**...**

 

“Come on, everybody!” Stoick yelled, jogging ahead of the large mass of people.

 

Gobber was at the back of the group, making sure no one was left behind. “Get on the buses! Move!” he instructed.

 

Stoick and Alvin went to the Titus while Eric and Valka went to find a bus. Stoick opened the back door here the three teens were seated. “Come on. we’re going now.” he instructed. He helped Astrid out, then lifted one of Hiccup’s arms over his shoulders, Tommy did the same on the other side, and they helped him out as well. 

 

“Over here!” Valka called from an early bus not far from them.

 

Stoick turned around, making sure they had everyone, and saw Alvin sitting in the Titus. “Aren’t you coming?” he asked.

 

Alvin shook his head. “I’m taking the Titus.” he responded. “I’ll be right behind you.” Eh then turned to Eirc. “Go with that group.” he instructed. Eric nodded and ran to the group on the last bus that was left.

 

Stoick nodded. “Okay.” he breathed and him and Tommy took Hiccup to the bus.  

 

Valka was sitting just behind the driver's seat and Astrid was right across from them. Stoick and Tommy set Hiccup down next to her before taking their seats. Tommy sat just behind his mother and Stoick took the driver’s seat.

 

Soon, all the busses were leaving the parking lot. Some cars drove solo next to the busses as they tried to escape the tornado. From where they were, the EF5 was closing in on the school. In seconds, it would be gone. Stoick pulled the bus out of the parking lot and they began their escape. 

 

Tommy looked behind them to see the school being taken down by  a wall of black cloud. “Oh shit!” he said as a few bricks and debris landed close to them. 

 

“How we looking?” Stoick asked, trying to see the twister behind them. 

 

Val looked behind them, her eyes widening. “It’s still picking up speed!”

 

“Great.” Stoick muttered, putting his foot on the gas.

 

Just behind them, the F5 and run into some large power lines, ripping some up and making others sway.  They were large metal structures, but the wind and harsh conditions made one of them tipp too far.

 

Hiccup looked out in front of them to see one of the large metal towers begin to tilt heavily towards the road. “Dad! Dad, the tower’s coming down!” he warned, pointing up ahead at the falling tower.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Look out!” Tommy yelled as the tower came down just in front of them, landing on the windshield of a car. 

 

Stoick’s eyes widened as he saw they were running out of road, so was the car just to their right and Alvin behind them. “Hang on!” he instructed, turning sharply to the side and putting on the brakes, stopping meters from the downed tower. 

 

“We can't get through. There's no way around.” Eric said, looking at their blocked path and the crop fields on either side of them. “We don't have any time!”

 

Valka looked to their right to see the lone car stuck in the ditch, with no way out. She opened the door and jumped out, much to the protest of the others. “Hey!” she called to the passengers of the car.  “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah!” was their reply. 

 

“Come on the bus. Come on the bus with us.” she said hurriedly. Gesturing for them to come.

 

She recognised the people who were in the car. It was some of Hiccup’s old friends. Fisher, Trey, Renée and her niece Scott. She watched them get on the bus hurriedly before she walked to the back of the bus to talk to Alvin.

 

“We gotta back up!” she told him. “We gotta go back and find a road!”

 

Alvin gave her a thumbs up and backed the Titus up and began driving the other way. Val climbed back on the bus and they turned around as well. They didn’t have much time as the EF5 was fast approaching. 

 

“Stoick, we need cover. We can't stay in the open.” Valka told her husband, looking at the twister worriedly.

 

Stoick shook his head, following the Titus down a sideroad. “It's moving too fast. We're not gonna outrun it.”

 

They kept driving until they reached a dead end. The road was blocked with concrete dividers. They could never move them in time. 

 

“The road's blocked! We gotta turn around.” Stoick said, getting ready to back up and try another road. If there was one.

 

Hiccup stopped him. “No, Dad, pull over up here.” he instructed, pointing up ahead.

 

Stoick stared at him. “What?” he asked. There was no where for them to go, what was he-

 

“Dad, trust me, okay? I filmed here. There's a storm drain. Right over there.” Hiccup interrupted his thoughts, pointing just ahead of them, past the dividers. 

 

Stoick nodded. “Okay, everybody get off!” he yelled, opening the door and climbing off the bus.

 

Astrid and Tommy helped Hiccup off the bus and they followed the others down the hill to the entrance. Alvin soon joined them, only to find that both sides of the storm drain were closed in by grates.

 

“We can't get in this way!” Scott said, trying to yank the grate open. 

 

“Go in through the manhole!” Stoick instructed, leading the group back up the hill and onto the road.

 

One by one they climbed over the dividers, while Hiccup Astrid and Tommy were stuck on the other side. They needed somebody to help lift Hiccup over the dividers or they would be stuck out there. Thankfully somebody came to help.

 

“Pass him over!” Scott said, arms waiting. Astrid and Tommy both looked at him in shock before doing so. Tommy lifted his brother's legs up so him and Astrid were carrying Hiccup bridal style.

 

They lifted him over the barrier carefully, Hiccup avoiding eye contact with his cousin the entire time. It had been  _ years _ since Scott had done as much as giving him ad look that wasn't filled with disgust and hate. But now, he was looking at him with worry and concern. It was...  _ weird _ .

 

Scott put Hiccup down on his right foot, Hiccup's arm around his shoulders for support, and waited for Astrid and Tommy to climb over the dividers. "You okay, cuz?" Scott asked in concern.

 

Hiccup nodded, still not making eye contact with his cousin. "Yeah, I-I'm fine."

 

Scott chuckled. "If you were fine you could  _ walk _ ." He pointed out.

 

Astrid walked over to Hiccup and he placed his other arm over her shoulder. After having his weight supported, the three, Tommy just ahead of them, made their way to the man hole. 

 

"We're lowering him down!" Astrid called down to the others. Stoick and Valka were waiting at the bottom to help their son into the storm drain since he couldn't do it himself.

 

Astrid and Scott put their hands under Hiccup's arms and gently began to lower him down. Hiccup hated the entire thing. He'd never felt so... so... useless. In all his life, in all the years of being called 'Hiccup the Useless', he'd never felt it like this.

 

Valka kept her hand on her son's legs, especially the left, gently supporting it. She didn't want it to hit the ladder or the ground with too much force, in fear of the pain it would cause her son.

 

Stoick grabbed his son's small waist, lowering him down once he was out of reach of the two teens above. He held his son close to his chest while Tommy, Astrid and Scott climbed down and placed the manhole cover back over the hole.

 

The EF5 was fast approaching and the wind was picking up just as fast. Alvin looked to the grate from his position from behind the wide lip in the wall of the storm drain. The grate was loose. It needed to be sealed. If someone lost their footing they would be sucked right out.

 

He reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out his flashdrive with all the information and footage he had gathered over the years. His life’s work. And he handed it to Stoick. 

 

“This footage and data could save lives one day!” he said, placing the flash drives in Stoick’s hand and climbing up the ladder and opening the cover.

 

Valka looked at Alvin in utter shock, working her way to the ladder. “Al what are you doing?!” she called over the wind. Alvin simply closed the cover and left, giving Val a small smile as he did so. “Alvin please come back!” 

 

Stoick held Valka down with one hand, the other still wrapped tightly around Hiccup’s small frame. “Valka get back!” he instructed as a strong gust blew through the storm drain.

 

…

 

Alvin walked carefully towards the Titus, nearly avoiding the countless pieces of debris being flung straight at him. He managed to dodge a few but a fairly large piece of lumber gave him a good smack on the shoulder blades, causing him to collapse to his knees in pain. Luckily he was only steps from the Titus doors.

 

…

 

In the storm drain, the wind had picked up significantly making it difficult to hold on. Looking out the grate, Valka could see the base of the large funnel fast approaching. It would be here in moments. The creaking of metal pulled her from her thoughts.

 

“Oh gods the grate’s loose!” Tommy shouted.

 

And indeed it was. the whole upper section of the grate was being pulled from its sockets in the concrete wall and was now blowing in the wind. If they didn’t find a way to block it, the whole grate would eventually be pulled off and they could easily be sucked out.

 

“We’re going to get sucked out!” Fisher panicked.

 

Stoick had forgotten the other’s were here, since he was worrying over his own family’s safety. “Calm down and hold on tight!” he instructed, causing the teens to shut up and press against the wall tightly. 

 

Hiccup was gripping the ladder tightly, his knuckles white. Not because he was scared of being sucked out into the open air, but because of the never ending pain in his leg. It throbbed, ached and stabbed violently. A single tear escaped his eye as he squeezed them shut them tightly.

 

Astrid was on the other side of the ladder, gripping it tightly as the teens pressed against the wall behind her. Looking up from the ladder she spotted Hiccup. His face pale and filled with pain, eyes squeezed shut and a tear running down his face. She knew why too. 

 

Sh reached her hand across and placed it on his trying to comfort him. She flinched slightly, feeling how cold it was but did not stop her from running her thumb over his white knuckles..

 

He opened his eyes, face still filled with pain and looked up. Astrid was staring back at him with the ocean blue eyes he’d always loved so much, her face filled with concern. He felt something warm on his hand, rubbing circles over it and realized it was her hand. He was still a little new to the whole ‘affection’ thing.

 

Behind her, he saw the teens. Fisher had his eyes shut and his hands flat against the wall. Renée had a strong grip on Trey’s arm, which he returned. He had never seen the twins like this. And then there was Scott. He had his head in his hands and was mumbling stuff like ‘find a happy place’ over and over.

 

He wanted to comfort them. Even though after what they put him through they didn’t deserve it. but Hiccup was always willing to forgive people. He believed in second chances. H just hoped he’d be able to have one with them. And his father.

 

There was another loud creak as another part of the grate was pulled from the wall. Hiccup knew it would be gone any time now as he could see how close the tornado was. But his vision was soon blocked by the blinding white of headlights. There was a bang and th grate was pushed back towards the wall by the Titus.

  
Sitting in the front seat, was none other than Alvin.


	11. Not Over Yet

Valka smiled as she saw Alvin in the driver's seat of the Titus, holding the grate in place. He lowered the grappling claws into the ground, but the rain from earlier had made the ground muddy and slippery. The claws wouldn’t hold.

 

Alvin kept pointing to the front of the vehicle and mouthing something to Valka. It took her a moment, but soon realized what he meant. He wanted to attack the winch to something to hold the Titus in place.

 

Valka nodded before patting Stoick’s arm to gain his attention. “We need to attach the winch to something! Come help me!”

 

Stoick gave her a puzzled look. “Attach it to what?” he asked.

 

Valka looked to the other end of the drain, seeing a large truck was pulled against the grate in the strong winds. “Attach it to the truck!” she instructed, pointing towards said truck. 

 

Stoick nodded. “Tommy,” he said, gaining the teen’s attention. “Watch your brother.”

 

“Hey! I’m not two anymore!” Hiccup called out in protest despite the pain in his leg.

 

Tommy stood next to his brother, a small smile on his lips. “Yes because four is  _ so _ much better.” He joked. Hiccup hated those kind of jokes because Tommy would pull them every year he didn’t have a birthday. Because he was born on February 29th.  **(In the books this is Hiccup’s actual birthday)**

 

Stoick and Valka, carefully made their way to the Titus and grabbed the claw of the winch and began walking to the other side. It took the two of them to get it to the other end in the harsh winds and wet ground, but they soon attached it to the front of the truck securely.

 

“All good!” Valka called, giving Alvin the ‘thumbs up’ to tighten the winch, which he returned.

 

The EF5 was fast approaching and Valka and Stoick hurried back to their spots and held tightly to whatever they could find. The twister was meters away from the drain and began to shift left, but it was still too close. 

 

…

 

Alvin watched in horror as the bumper of the Titus, which the winch was attached to, began to rip off of the Titus. He couldn’t even react as it came loose and he was sucked into the large funnel. He was flung from side to side as the Titus got pulled up and up the gargantuan funnel. 

 

Suddenly, the harsh treatments stopped. He was above the clouds, and the sun was shining brightly as if it never left. The clouds turned a light pink in the late afternoon sun. He smiled lightly before gravity caught up to him, and he was flung right down into the dark abyss once again, and right into the hard ground.

 

…

 

In the storm drain, no one had taken notice to the absence of the Titus because they were all holding on for their lives. Thunder cracked, causing a few teens to jump and loosen their grips before tightening them again. Astrid’s grip on Hiccup’s hand tightened and he used his free hand to hold her’s in comfort. 

 

He knew she was scarred. He was too. But he had faith that they would make it out alive. Or at least everyone else. He could feel himself weakening from blood loss and the overall injury, and the constant pain was beginning to become unbearable. His grip on Astrid’s hand began to weaken, as did his grip on consciousness. 

 

Suddenly, everything stopped. The roaring wind, the thunder, even the rain had stopped falling as if it never started. Valka opened her eyes and looked towards the grate, expecting to see Alvin sitting in the Titus, just like he was minutes earlier. All that remained was the bumper, pulled tightly to the grate by the force of the winch.

 

She let out a sad sigh. He was gone. He gave up his life for them.

 

Scott let out a sigh of relief and a small chuckle. They were alive. Renée still had her hold on Trey, but she had a wide smile on her face. Fisher had finally calmed down and let out a happy sigh. Tommy was standing behind Hiccup, a tight grip on his older brother had loosened as he calmed his breathing. Valka, with teary eyes, turned to face stoick and hugged him tightly, which he returned. His family was safe. 

 

Astrid was smiling widely now. She found it hard to believe that they had made it out alive. She looked up at Hiccup, expecting him to have his same goofy, crooked smile. Instead, she got quick short breaths and drooping eyes. She stared at him in concern, before she could ask him if he was alright, he lost consciousness and fell backwards against his brother.

 

“Hiccup!?” Astrid cried in concern, letting go of the ladder finally and racing towards him. Tommy had managed to catch Hiccup and laid him down on the floor gently.

 

Valka and Stoick let go of each other and looked around trying to find out what was wrong. Their breath caught as they saw Hiccup lying unconscious on the ground. They panicked and were instantly at his side, Stoick raised Hiccup and put his ear to his chest.

 

Tha-thump.

 

Tha-thump.

 

Tha-thump.

 

He was still alive... for now.

 

"He needs medical attention. Right now." Stoick said, looking up at Valka. She nodded before looking back down at her son.

 

_ My poor baby,  _ she thought, running a hand through his hair.  _ Just hang on. _

 

_... _

 

After managing to get Hiccup's limp body out of the storm drain, which was not easy, they walked towards the main road they tried to make their escape down in the first place. Hopefuly they could get some help.

 

Stoick was carrying Hiccup bridal style close to his chest, listening to the boys shallow breathing. Valka, Astrid and Tommy were hot on his heals and the other teens hot on theirs.

 

Once they reached the road, they saw that emergency crews had removed the downed power line and were coming through with firetrucks, police cars and ambulances.

 

With their waving arms and shouting they managed to flag one of the ambulances down and it pulled over next to them. The driver rolled down the window, about to ask what they needed until he saw Hiccup.

 

"Everyone else alright?" He asked the group. They nodded. "Okay. Get in we need to stop at the school first though."

 

Stoick shook his head. "No one is there. We evacuated the school already."

 

The driver nodded. "Alright I'll call it in." He said before hopping out and walking round to the back, gesturing for them to follow.

 

He opened the back door of the ambulance and three paramedics got out with a stretcher. Stoick walked over and carefully laid Hiccup down, slightly reluctant to let go. They quickly loaded him into the ambulance and the driver turned back to face the group.

 

"I can only take four people, max." He said. Stoick, Valka,Tommy and Astrid quickly raised their hands. The man nodded. "Climb in." He instructed.

 

The four did so, leaving the four teens by themselves. The driver waved over a police car and turned back to Scott, Renée, Trey and Fisher.

 

"They will get you four sorted out." He said with a small smile. The teens nodded and the driver walked over to the back of the ambulance, closing the door before hopping in and driving off. 

 

...

 

"Can you tell us what happened?" one of the paramedics asked while another began to untie and sweater wrapped around Hiccup's injured leg.

 

"We were out filming a project a-and the tornado trapped us under a factory and t-there was a metal beam that crushed his leg." Astrid said, speaking up for the first time since Hiccup passed out. 

 

The paramedic that was working on Hiccup's leg gasped as she removed the sweater, revealing the wound.

 

The bones were sticking out still, and there was a lot of blood. The skin and veins around the wound were black and dark blue, and the entire lower portion of his leg was a shocking white.

 

"Oh gods." The paramedic said, examining the wound better. She looked up at the four sitting across from her. "How long since the injury occurred?" She asked.

 

Astrid let out a shaky breath. "Um, about four, maybe five, hours ago?" She said. It was more of a question than a statement.

 

The paramedic shook her head. "I don't think we can save it..." 

 

Stock shot up and looked at her. "What do you mean?" 

 

"The infection is spreading. His entire lower leg is dying out and he had blood poisoning. There is nothing we can do now." She said.

 

Valka, Tommy and Astrid stared at her wide eyed. Stoick gasped. "You don't mean..."

 

The paramedic nodded. "I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do." She said.

  
"The leg has to go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay be honest who DIDN'T see that coming


	12. Waiting for Responces

Astrid, Tommy and Valka sat quietly in the waiting room of the hospital. Waiting to hear anything about Hiccup's condition. He was rushed into an operating room the moment they arrived and it had been almost two hours since they'd seen him. Stoick had gone to wait outside the room so he would know in an instant if something went wrong.

 

Tommy was leaning his head on his mother’s shoulder as she rubbed her hand over his arm in comfort, both for him and for herself. Astrid was on the other side of Valka, holding the woman’s hand tightly, for it was the only thing preventing her from breaking down. 

 

Hiccup was losing a leg. A limb. A flesh and blood part of him. He would never get it back. Not ever. He would have to relearn how to walk, to stand, to run all over again. Who knows how he would take it. Or if he would even make it.

 

Astrid had just realized how much she loved him, and he was losing a limb.  _ Maybe his life.  _ She thought. She shook the thoughts out of her head and leaned back in the chair, thinking about what had happened when they were trapped under the paper mill. 

 

_ I-I like you Astrid… a-a lot… _

 

_ I-I don’t know about y-you, but I-I can at least die h-happy… _

 

She knew he would. She just didn’t want him to.

 

“Val.” a deep voice said, pulling Astrid, and everyone else out o their thoughts.

 

They looked up to see Stoick standing right next to them along with a doctor. She was shoulder length, wavy brown hair and stunning grey-blue eyes. She was also quite tall, almost as tall as Stoick.

 

“Hi, I’m Dr.Kalt, but please, call me Nicole.” she greeted, a small smile on her lips as she shook Valka’s hand.

 

After shaking hands with the Doctor, Valka stood up, taking a deep breath. “H-How is he?” she asked hesitantly.

 

Nicole smiled. “His amputation was a success. We managed to keep his knee and a small amount under it but still cutting off the infection.” she said, smiling as she saw the family sigh in relief. “Once the stump has healed we can make a prosthetic for him and start Physio lessons.”

 

Valka smiled and nodded. “When can we see him?” she asked eagerly. 

 

“In about fifteen minutes.” Nicole said, looking at her watch. “He’s still unconscious. We just moved him to his room and are getting him all set up.”

 

Stoick placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder and smiled at Nicole. “Thank you.”

 

She smiled. “You are very welcome. He will be in room two-seventy-three.” With that she walked off. 

 

Valka hugged Stoick tightly. Her family was alright. That was all that mattered. Stoick hugged her back before inviting Tommy in as well.

 

Astrid stood up and walked over to the front desk. “Um, are the phone’s working?” she asked the lady behind the desk. 

 

The woman nodded. “Yep, there’s one just down the hall.” she said, pointing down a small hallway at a phone hanging on the wall.

 

Astrid smiled. “Thanks.” she said, walking to the phone.

 

She picked it up and dialed her home phone, hoping someone would pick up. After four rings, the ringing stopped.

 

“ _ Hello? _ ” a voice asked. She sighed. He was alright.

 

“Uncle Finn?” she asked in clarification. 

 

“ _ Astrid! Oh Astrid! Thank Thor you’re alright! Where are you? _ ” he asked quickly.

 

“I’m at the hospital.”

 

There was a brief silence. “ _ Are you alright? What happened? _ ”

 

Astrid sniffled slightly. “ _ I’m _ fine.” she said. 

 

“ _ Then why are you at the hospital? _ ”

 

Astrid had tried to hold back her emotions, stay strong like she always was. But after the events of today, she just couldn’t anymore. “Me and Hiccup went to work on my project at the paper mill a-and the tornado came and trapped us. H-His leg was crushed and then… th-the bone split… he almost drowned and now he’s in the hospital… th-they had to amputate his leg Uncle Finn!” she was sobbing at this point. “It’s _ gone! _ ”

 

She held her hand over her mouth and leaned her head against the wall. Her uncle was saying soothing words to her over the phone, trying to calm her, which they eventually did. She stood back up and wiped her eyes. 

 

“ _ Are you there with anyone? _ ” Finn asked.

 

Astrid nodded, but then remembered Finn couldn’t see her. “Yeah. I’m here with Stoick a-and Valka. Hiccup’s parents. A-And Tommy is here too.”

 

Finn hummed. “ _ Alright. Stay with them. I’ll be there soon. Thankfully that flying bike missed the car. _ ” he joked. 

 

Astrid chuckled. “Okay. I’ll see you soon.”

 

“ _ Bye. _ ”

 

“Bye.” She hung the phone up and made her way back to where the Haddock family was seated.

 

“We’re heading in now.” Valka said calmly. “Are you coming?”

 

Astrid nodded. “Yeah. I’m coming.” she answered, putting on a small smile. 

 

The three made their way to the stairs before making their way up to the second floor. Once there, they took multiple hallways until they reached room two-seventy-three. Astrid took a breath, grabbing Tommy’s hand on instinct. They didn’t know what to expect, and she was terrified. Tommy squeezed her hand back as Stoick opened the door.

 

The room was white and plain, with only one, yet fairly large, window on the wall to the right of the bed. On the bed, was Hiccup. Still pale, but better than the last time they saw him. He had a tube running over his ears and into his nose. The end was attached to an oxygen tank that hummed quietly. Next to the oxygen tank was an IV and a heart monitor that beeped in a rhythmic tune. 

 

Everyone's eyes trailed down to where his left leg would be resting, but saw nothing. In the back of their minds they all wanted to pretend that he wasn’t losing his leg. But that flat spot in the blanket made it all the more real.

 

Stoick walked over first, taking his son’s frail, limp hand in his. He grasped it tightly with both hands. Valka moved second. She went to the other side of the bed and leaned over, giving Hiccup a kiss on the forehead before sitting down in the chair placed just next to the bed and placed a gentle hand on her son’s head, smoothing his wild hair down comfortingly. 

 

Tommy was hesitant but he walked to the end of the bed and placed his hand on his brother’s right foot, as if he was feeling if it was still there. He let out a sigh and looked down, eyes closed. The whole day he seemed tense, straight and tall, but now, he let his shoulders slump and arms relax.

 

Astrid was hesitant to go over, but eventually did. She walked towards Valka and stopped next to the woman. With a shaky hand grasped Hiccups in hers, lacing their fingers together. She then sat in the chair that was placed next to Valka's and took a seat.

 

They sat there in silence for who knows how long. Tommy would occasionally look out the large window at the now dark streets below. Valka and Stoick didn't move from their son's side the entire time. They wanted to be there the moment he woke up. Astird wanted the same. She would keep Hiccup's hand clasped in hers, occasionally taking it out and playing with his small fingers. 

 

He had gotten much better since they had arrived in the room. His face now had it's usually pale colour, and he wasn't a frigid cold like he was when they got out of the hole.

 

But still no movement. Not the slightest.

 

Astrid sat back in her seat, hand still gripping Hiccup's, and sighed. But she was soon startled by a knock on the door.

 

"Come in." Stoick said in his usual stoic tone. 

 

The door opened and in walked Astrid's uncle, Finn Hofferson. 

 

"Hello." He greeted quietly, giving everyone a small smile which they returned. He laid his eyes on Hiccup, still completely oblivious to the world. "How is he?" He asked.

 

Valka nodded. "Good." She responded. "And getting better." She smiled, placing a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. 

 

"He's not awake yet, but he will be soon." Stoick said with a sigh.  _ Hopefully. _

 

Finn nodded. His eyes then trailed to Astrid, who had hesitantly let go of Hiccup's hand and made her way towards her uncle.

 

He smiled as she walked, rather quickly, towards him and threw her arms around his chest. Her head buried itself in his shoulder, happy to finally see him again. He held her close, rocking back and forth. 

 

"I'm so glad you're okay." He said, a huge smile on his face.

 

Astrid smiled back, pulling away slightly and looked him in the eyes. "I'm just happy that  _ you're  _ okay."

 

Finn chuckled slightly and put a hand on Astrid's shoulder. She smiled before going back to her seat and taking Hiccup's hand once more, playing with his fingers.

 

...

 

Hours passed and the group sat in silence, occasionally speaking up to partake in small talk before becoming silent once again. By about 12:40 am Dr. Kalt came round, surprised to see they were all still there.

 

"I thought you had all left." She chuckled before stepping into the room. "How's he been?"

 

Stoick sighed, trying to keep himself awake. "Nothing yet." 

 

Nicole nodded, writing something down on the clipboard she was carrying. She then looked back up, a sad smile on her lips. 

 

"I'm really sorry but it's hospital policy. You're all going to have to leave for the night. But, you can come right back in at eight o'clock tomorrow."

 

They nodded and she left them in peace. Stoick and Val stood up, stretching after sitting for so long and went to wake Tommy who had fallen asleep on a chair on the other end of the room.

 

Astrid stayed put, waiting until her uncle gestured for her to join them as they waited at the door for her. She sighed before giving Hiccup a kiss on the forehead.

 

"I'll see you tomorrow." She whispered. She held his hand loosely and began to walk towards the door. But, after only two steps, she was stopped. 

 

She looked behind her to see that her hand was being held back tightly by none other than Hiccup. His eyes still shut, same expression on his face but he moved. He gripped her hand. It wasn't much but this was the most he had done in  _ hours _ .

 

Astrid looked over to the adults, a shocked and happy expression on their faces. Tommy laughed lightly at the sight and Astrid couldn't keep back a smile.

 

She turned back to Hiccup, still holding his hand as he stirred slightly in his sleep. He moved his head to face Astrid and opened his eyes slowly.

 

He looked up at her with his tired, forest green eyes and smiled lightly. When Astrid only stared at him, he furrowed his brows in confusion.

 

“H-hello? Astrid? A-are you ok-”

 

Before he could finish his sentence, Astrid flung her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. She fought back tears, which she could usually do no problem, but after the events of today, she just gave up trying to hold them back.

 

She let her tears fall, unintentionally soaking Hiccups hospital gown but she didn’t care at the moment.  _ He’s alive. He’s okay. He’s right here.  _ She kept repeating to herself.

 

Hiccup on the other hand was stunned. He sat there, not quite knowing what to do, before gently wrapping his arms around her. 

He shut his eyes and held her close, rubbing circles on her back gently, trying to calm her. 

 

“It’s okay,” he whispered repeatedly into her hair. “It’s okay.”

 

Astrid squeezed him tightly before releasing him and wiping her eyes. There was a pause before punching him in the arm.

 

“Ow! Wh-why would you do that!?” he hissed, holding his arm in pain.

 

“ _ That  _ was for scarring me! For the  _ third  _ time!” Astrid exclaimed.

 

Hiccup was about to respond but was cut off when Astrid placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed him gently on the lips. It took him a second to register what was happening before he gently kissed back.

 

Tommy wolf whistled and Stoick smacked him upside the head, causing Tommy to glare at his father. Stoick only shrugged and looked back at the happy scene in front of them.

 

“And that was for being okay.” she whispered.

 

She caressed Hiccup's cheek and he leaned into her touch, smiling lightly up at her.

 

“Sorry about scaring you.” he said in a hushed tone.

 

“Ya, you need to stop doing that.” she whispered back, smiling.

 

Astrid pulled away, much to Hiccup's disappointment, and smiled at Stoick and Valka who were standing in the doorway.

 

Once Astrid stepped back, Stoick and Valka rushed over and embraced him tightly

 

“Dad, c-can’t breath!” Hiccup exclaimed, trying to loosen his father's tight grip.

 

Stoick laughed lightly and backed away, standing next to the bed and ruffling Hiccup hair. Valka remained where she was, holding Hiccup in a gentle embrace before slowly releasing him.

 

“Glad to finally see you when you’re not unconscious or dying.” she teased.

 

Hiccup made a pouty face and she laughed. “Gee, glad to see you too, Mom.” he joked back.

 

Valka gave him a small kiss on the head and sat next to the bed with Stoick. That’s when Hiccup noticed Tommy standing in the doorway, smiling at him.

 

“Bro, what are you doing over there?” Hiccup asked.

 

Tommy made a face. “Dude you know I don’t like getting into all this emotional stuff.”

 

Hiccup smirked at him. “Really? Because I thought I saw that a certain someone had been  _ crying  _ earlier.”

 

Stoick smiled and Valka held back a laugh as they looked at Tommy's expression. 

 

“T-that was different. You were flipping  _ dead _ .” Tommy struggled to find an excuse. “But, I am happy you’re awake now.”

 

Hiccup smiled.

 

There was a pause.

 

“I bet you cried  _ so  _ hard.”

  
“Okay I take that last part back.”


	13. Apology

“Okay I take that last part back.” Tommy said and Hiccup gave a light chuckle.

Suddenly, his face scrunched in confusion. 

 

“What’s wrong?” Astrid asked, concerned.

 

Hiccup shifted his legs around. “I… I can’t feel my left leg.”

 

Everyone froze. In the happy moment, they’d forgotten the missing limb. How would they tell him?

 

“Did they numb it or something when they were fixing it?” Hiccup asked. He was looking down at his left leg, the sheets rumpled and creased making it impossible to tell if the limb was there or not.

 

“Uh… Hiccup…” Astrid started. How could she tell him?

 

Before she could say anything more, Hiccup had sat up gently and lifted the sheets. His eyes went wide and his face paled ever so slightly as he saw his left leg.

 

Or what was left of it.

 

He just sat there. It lasted for a few seconds but if felt more like hours. After a deep breath he finally spoke. “O-oh…”

 

They all felt their hearts break a little inside as he lowered the sheet, leaning back and shutting his eyes. 

 

Astrid squeezed his hand to reassure him that everything would be okay. He gladly squeezed back. He opened his eyes and sat up slowly, Astrid helping him to get comfortable.

 

“So…” he said, staring at the limb awkwardly. “What’s gonna happen with m-my… uh…” 

 

“They are designing a prosthetic for you.” Stoick cut in. “You will walk and run again, son. Don’t you worry.”

 

Hiccup smiled gratefully up at his father. Although it didn’t quite reach his eyes the news made him feel reassured.

 

“And we’ll all be here for you.” Astrid said.

 

“Every step of the way.” Valka added with a smile, Tommy nodding in agreement.

 

The door soon opened and Nicole walked in. “I thought I told you all you had t- oh! Harrison you’re awake!” she said happily with a smile. “That was fast. How do you feel?”

 

“Uh, tired. Mostly.” Hiccup said. He hadn’t even noticed how tired he felt until now.

 

Nicole nodded. “Of course. You’re still healing and your body needs lots of rest. Now, does he know about his… um…” she trailed off, not wishing to cause any alarm.

 

Stoick nodded. “Yes, he does.” 

 

She nodded. “Good. Now, Harrison. We are making a custom prosthetic for you but, sadly you won’t be able to walk on it for at least a month. The skin on your stump is still healing and is not strong enough to be walked on yet.”

 

Hiccup nodded. Cringing slightly at the word ‘stump’. It was awkward and strange and made the thought of his missing limb sink deep into his thoughts. 

 

“Alright then! Harrison, you get some rest and as for the rest of you,” Nicole said, giving Stoick, Tommy and Valka a glare. “Time to leave for the night.” 

 

Stoick, Valka and Tommy gave Hiccup a hug farewell for the night and prepared to leave. Astrid waited for them to finish before rising from her seat but not letting go of Hiccups hand. 

 

“When I come back tomorrow you better not be missing anymore limbs.” she joked.

 

He smirked and chuckled. “No promises.”

 

Astrid gave him a small smile and kissed him on the forehead before she even registered what she was doing. Sure she’d done it before but he was unconscious before. Affection wasn’t her strong suit. She was more of a ‘punches aren’t violence, they’re communication’ kind of girl. Yet this felt  _ natural. _

 

Hiccup was even a little surprised by her action. They’d kissed twice before but those were more heat-of-the-moment sort of things. He tensed before letting himself relax and his eyes droop, giving in to his exhaustion.

 

Astrid pulled away soon after and bid him a quiet ‘bye’ before joining everyone at the door.

 

Hiccup shut his eyes and took a deep breath, letting sleep claim him.

 

…

 

When Astrid arrived home with her Uncle Finn she was exhausted. She’d never felt so tired. Her stomach soon erupted with a growl. She then remembered that she hadn’t eaten anything except for a small (and very stale tasting) hospital sandwich. 

 

When she walked into the kitchen she saw Uncle Finn checking for missed calls on the phone. Most were probably from family that lived farther away wondering if they were okay. 

 

Uncle Finn then chuckled and looked to Astrid, holding her the phone. “Your friend called here about 10 times!” 

 

Astrid took the phone and grabbed some cereal from atop the fridge before checking the phone.

 

_ ‘S. Jorgenson _ ’ the caller ID said.

 

She dialed the number and waited. Sure it was 1 in the morning but Scott's last call was about 10 minutes ago so he couldn’t have been sleeping already.

 

After 3 rings, the phone was picked up. 

 

“ _ Hello? _ ” the voice of Scott said over the phone.

 

“Hey, Scott.” Astrid responded, resting the phone between her shoulder and ear as she grabbed a bowl and spoon from the cupboards and drawers.

 

“ _ Astrid, hey! Finally! How’s Hiccup doing? _ ” Scott asked.

 

“He’s fine. He woke up under an hour ago actually.”

 

There was a brief pause. “ _ A-And the leg? I mean, it was pretty bad last time I saw it. _ ”

 

Astrid took a breath.  _ Oh boy.  _ “It was too damaged. They had to, uh, they had to take it.”

 

Beat.

 

“ _ What do you mean ‘take it’? _ ”

 

“They had to amputate. I-It’s gone.” She cringed at the word ‘amputate’. It sounded strange coming from her lips.

 

“ _ O-oh. _ ” Scott said.

 

There was then muffled talking in the background before the now slightly muffled voice of Scott replied with ‘ _ Hiccup lost his leg _ .’

 

Astrid’s brows furrowed. “Who are you talking to?”

 

“ _ Oh. That’s Renée and Trey. Their house was totaled. Fish is here too but he fell asleep. He couldn’t get down the street cuz the police blocked it off to clean up _ .”

 

“ _ Hey Astrid _ !” a familiar voice chimed in over the phone.

 

Astrid chuckled when she heard Scott mutter a “ _ Shut up, dude! _ ”

 

“Scott, put me on speaker.”

 

There was a beep before Scott spoke again. “ _ There we go _ .” 

 

“So Scott, why have you been calling me all night?” Astrid asked, pouring a bowl of cereal and sitting down. 

 

“ _ Well, I, I-I mean we wanted to apologize. To Hiccup. _ ” 

 

That caught Astrid off guard. This was not like Scott. He doesn’t apologize.  _ Ever _ . And before today, or yesterday since it was past midnight, he  _ hated _ Hiccup.

 

“And  _ why _ do  _ you _ want to apologize?” She asked. She knew the answer but she wanted to hear him say it himself. 

  
" _Well, I was, uh... I wasn't the nicest person. I mean, in middle school I was really bad-_ "

  
" _Dude you were vicious._ " Trey said. He shut up after Astrid heard a fist colliding with someone.

  
" _You were doing it too, Trey!_ "

  
"We all did, in one way or another." Astrid pointed out, looking down.

  
" _Yeah, but none of you were as bad as me. I-I used tobeat him. I don't know what was wrong with me... A-and I want to make it up to him._ " Scotts voice cracked slightly as he spoke. Which was odd.

  
Astrid sighed. "I would have said that you didn't deserve the chance to apologies, but Hiccup would want to hear it." she said. "The Haddocks will be picking me up at nine-o'clock tomorrow. I'll ask if we can take you guys over too."

  
Scott let out a sigh of relief. He expected Astrid to scream at him or something (Thank Thor she's tired). " _Okay. We'll be ready by then._ " And the phone hung up.

  
Astrid scoffed. "Bye."

**  
...**

  
The ride to the hospital the next morning was quiet. The Highlander was packed with the two adults and six teens in the back two rows, yet no one spoke. They were all either looking down at their hands or out the windows at the reconstruction of the damaged homes and building.

  
On the way they drove past the school. It was flattened. A wall or two stood standing and the rest was a pile of smashed bricks, mangled metal and crushed cars and busses. It was horrifying to think that if they were any later getting out of there, there would be bodies buried and littered across the property. The sight showed them just how lucky they were.

  
**...**

  
When they arrived at the hospital, they had to sit at the gate for the parking lot for five minutes because Stoick couldn't find his pass and almost another five to ten minutes to find a parking spot.

  
When they did finally find a spot, Tommy, Astrid and Scott climbed out immediately to let Trey, Renée and Fisher out of the back seats. Since Stoick had the pass to open the door to the hospital from the parking garage he went first with Valka at his side and the teens following in a group behind them. They entered and headed down the stairs to the main lobby where they received many odd looks for their large group.

  
They stayed pretty quiet the entire way to Hiccups room except for Trey as Renée punched him for bumping her into a wall. When they reached the door, Scott, Trey, Fisher and Renée were feeling nervous about what to expect. They hadn't heard much except that Hiccup was now missing a leg.

  
Stoick opened the door and held it open for Astrid, Valka and Tommy, as well as the nervous teens that hesitantly walked in. Astrid was not even two steps into the room when she was startled by an exasperated yell.

  
"I appreciate your concern Dr. Kalt but I _don't_ need any pain killers!" Hiccup said before slamming a pillow on top of his face in annoyance.

  
"I disagree, _Harrison_." Astrid joked.

  
Hiccup froze and swung his arms full circle so the pillow was on his lap. "Oh it's just you." he whispered. "Uh, I feel fine... or as fine as I can be, I guess." he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

  
"Son, why aren't you taking your pain killers?" Valka asked, arms crossed from the foor of his bed.

  
"Because I'm _fine_." he stated. When Valka raised an eyebrow, he knew his reason wasn't good enough. "I had them last night and they made me feel..." he scrunched his brow. "weird..."

  
The entrance of the other teens caught his attention. He was shocked to see them here. The last time he saw them they had just avoided certain death via gargantuan black cyclone.

  
"Oh, h-hey guys." he said nervously. "H-how've you been? You guys doing okay?"

  
Astrid and Tommy had joined Valka at the side of Hiccups bed and the teens slowly approached the end of the bed as awkward silence filled the room.

  
"We're doing fine. How you been holding up baby cuz?" Scott said, finally breaking the silence. There was a small smile played on his lips as he called Hiccup his 'baby cuz'. Hiccup used to hate that when they were younger.

  
"Really? You're going back to the 'baby cuz' nick name again? And why 'baby cuz' anyway? I'm almost four months older than you!" Hiccup pointed out.

  
"Dude, you only get a birthday every four years! Technically you're not even _five_ years old!" Trey pointed out with a small laugh, the awkward atmosphere diminishing.

  
"Trey's right. You're technically the youngest out of all of us! Even  Tommy is older than you! And he skipped a school year." Renée said with a small chuckle.

  
"Why can't I skip a year? Think of all the stunts we could pull in that time, Ré!" 

  
"You can't skip a year now, Trey." Fisher pointed out. "You'd never even get into college if you missed grade eleven."

  
"And besides," Tommy said, finally speaking up from the bed side. "I only skipped kindergarten. I basically missed finger painting and useless nap times at one in the afternoon."

  
Hiccup chuckled. "But if you really think about it, I'm still the oldest here."

  
Trey nodded slowly. "True. All I got from that huge disaster was rope burns and a bruise on my knee. You're so lucky! You got the coolest scar _ever_!" he said pointing at Hiccups missing leg.

  
Astrid balled her fists. "Trey, cut it out." she growled.

  
Hiccup held out a hand towards her. "It's okay." he said. "He didn't mean it. And besides, being high on pain medicine and staring at a blank ceiling for a few hours gives you time to think. I'm fine with it."

  
"So..." Fisher said nervously. "What's going to happen with your, you know...?"

  
Hiccup shrugged. "I'm getting a prosthetic made. I hope I can customize it. It would be cool if I got one that made me look like a _cyborg!_ "

  
Astrid gave him a light punch while Tommy shook his head. "Dork." she chuckled.

  
"Awesome!" Trey said, Renée nodding in agreement.

  
Fisher smiled and Scott laughed lightly. "That's be pretty sick, cuz."

  
"Man, why'd we ever stop hanging out?" Trey pointed out.

  
There was a brief silence before a stomach grumble caused everyone to look towards Stoick, who was standing just by the door.

  
He chuckled. "I guess I didn't have enough breakfast! Anyone else hungry?" he asked.

  
Everyone minus Scott and Astrid raised their hands. Stoick and Valka laughed and they headed to the door. "C'mon. I'm buy some food for you."

  
The teens smiled and headed to the door with exclamations of "I'm starving!" and "Let's eat!" and from Trey, " _Nothing_ is better than free food! Unless it's moldy!" 

  
Astrid, Scott and Hiccup watched the group leave in silence before the three teens were sitting in pure silence. Astrid than turned back to Hiccup and grasped his hand before recoiling quickly.

  
"Gods, your hand is _freezing_!" she said, trying to warm her now cold hand.

  
"Blame the IV." Hiccup said, pointing plainly at the IV cart next to the bed.

  
Astrid sighed, taking his hand and trying to warm it in her own. "Anyway," she began. "Scott called me last night and told me there's something he'd like to tell you."

  
Hiccup nodded, looking at his hands (one of them still in Astrid's grasp). "Okay." he said. "But first, could you guys help me sit up? I'm sick of leaning on these pillows. They're getting uncomfortable."

  
Astrid looked to Scott who nodded. "Yeah, sure." he said quietly.

  
The two teens the grabbed one of Hiccups arms and placed the other behind his back, pulling him off the bed slightly. Once he got his balance he brought his legs over so they were dangling off the side of the bed. He made sure to pull the blanket over his remaining leg and stump to cover it.

  
He sighed. "That's better." he whispered before looking to Scott who was now standing next to Astrid. "So, what'd you want to say?"

  
Scott let out a breath. Why am I so nervous? he asked himself. "Okay... I wanted to say that," he paused and Astrid looked at him encouragingly. "I'm sorry. For, well, everything."

  
Hiccup opened his mouth to respond but Scott cut him off.

  
"And don't you dare say 'it's okay' because it's not! What I did was... it was _messed up_! Okay!? It was totally screwed up! I don't know what the fuck was _wrong_ with me!" Scott said, louder than he intended, startling both Hiccup and Astrid. "And I'm sorry. For all of it. I know I probably don't deserve your forgiveness but I'm just trying to make things right."

  
There was a moment of silence, no one looking at each other as if the boring hospital floors suddenly became interesting.

  
"Why'd you do it?" Hiccup asked, not looking up from the floor.

  
"W-what?" Scott asked, not quite hearing him.

  
"Why'd you do it?"

  
Scott took a breath. "I don't really know. I-I mean, my dad was always, uh, kind of rough with me and," he gulped a little. "He would yell at me for all of the little mistakes I made of sometimes just for no reason. A-and then there was Douglas and Tristan back in middle school that would pick on you and when I would try and stand up for you they'd make fun of me. I-I was kind of pressured into it. A-and I kind of used you to, I-I don't know why, deal with the things going on with my dad and... _ugh_! Stupid, stupid, _stupid_!" he muttered to himself, smacking himself square in the face. "It's stupid! I always felt bad but I never even bothered to care! I even drove the others away from you!"

  
Scott was sounding really distressed with everything going through his head, and Hiccup and Astrid clearly noticed. It was hard not to since this was very unusual Scott behavior and because of the few stray tears running down his face

  
"I mean, I tried to tone it down after I found out about what happened on your bike a few years back but I _never_ stopped!" he said. " _Heck_ , what happened _haunted_ me! I knew I caused it and I-I couldn't sleep properly for _days_ but I never stopped! _I NEVER STOPPED!_ "

  
He was crying now, not fully but his voice was wavering and he had many tears running down his face. Astrid was staring at him, feeling utterly depressed by the situation. A whole other side to what has been going on and it made the whole thing ten times worse. Hiccup almost felt like crying himself. He expected a completely different reason than what Scott had said. And no matter what the reason was Hiccup was ready to forgive him.

  
"I-It's okay, Scott. I forgive you." Hiccup said, placing a hand on his cousins shoulder.

  
Without warning Scott embraces him in a tight hug, which Hiccup slowly returned. The hug lasted a moment before Scott regained himself and stepped back.

  
"Thank you." he smiled before turning to Astrid and pointing a finger at her. "Not a word to the others about... this."\

  
Astrid pulled her fingers across her lips, as if she were pulling a zipper across it, twisting her wrist and flicker her fingers away from her as if locking her lips and throwing away the key.

  
"Sorry about your leg, though." Scott said, sitting in the chair next to Astrid and gesturing to the missing limb.

  
Hiccup shrugged. "It's fine. S'not your fault anyways."   
  
Astrid looked away sheepishly. "Yeah, that was kind of my fault... actually..." she said, trailing off.

  
Hiccup sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Are you guys _trying_ to make me feel bad by blaming yourselves for everything that happens to me?"

  
Astrid shook her head. "No, but it still kind of is my fault."

  
"No. It's not. It's mine. I chose to help you with your project." he said. But her then looked up, scrunching his brow while thinking. "Actually, it's the computers fault for screwing with your video!"

  
Astrid chuckled. "I must replace that old thing."

  
"Destroy it! And avenge my leg!" Hiccup said, thrusting his fist in the air.

  
Scott scoffed jokingly. "Or what's left of it."

  
Hiccup gave him a fake glare. "This no joking matter, Jorgenson! And stop laughing, Hofferson!" he said, turning to Astrid who was chuckling in her seat.

  
"What? It's not my fault Scott made a funny, unintentional pun." she said.

  
Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "Or what's _left_ of it..." Hiccup repeated quietly to himself. His eyes then widened and he face palmed. "Oh my god. That's horrible. You are all horrible."

  
The three then broke out laughing, but got cut off when the door went flying open and the remainder of the group walked in.

  
"We got food!" Trey called happily, holding up a sandwich and chocolate milk.

  
"It's just hospital food. Not Swiss Chalet." Fisher pointed out.

  
Renée rolled her eyes. "Don't make me hungry for something I ain't gonna get."

  
"Astrid, Scott, we got you two some water and a cookie. Just for fun." Valka said with a smile.

  
"Oh, and Hiccup?" Stoick said, holding up a bag. "We got you some soup."

  
Hiccup thrust both hands in the air. "Yes! Real food!" he cried.

  
Stoick tilted his head. "Didn't they give you breakfast?"

  
"If you count the glue and paper shreddings they call oatmeal then no."


	14. Flashback

It had been eight days since the tornado massacre that devastated the town of Berk. Things were finally getting back to normal, or as normal as they could get. Many buildings had been destroyed and almost 80 people died. 12 of them high school students and five of them were going to be graduating that day. Stoick had the great idea to have Hiccup make a video for the deceased students when they did the graduation at the Town Hall the next week.

 

Besides the deaths and destruction of most of the town, things were going surprisingly well. The rebuilding of the school was going to start within the month and would hopefully be complete by september, meaning Stoick would keep his job as Vice Principal. Valka and Eric had left their jobs as storm chasers since half their team was gone. Valka was going to stay at home with her family until she could find a new job in town. Eric was moving back home with his parents, since he was renting an apartment in the off-season, up north. He told Valka he would keep in touch with her while he was searching for a job. 

 

The teens were doing well, too. The twins were having their house re-built, and it would hopefully be built enough to be lived in by the end of the month if the weather cooperated. Fisher’s house was fine except for a small hole in the roof and a few broken windows. Scott was as happy as ever. He finally had the guilt of all the years of bullying Hiccup lifted off his shoulders. His friend group was back together again

 

Astrid was happier. She wasn’t stressing over school anymore because for one there was no school anymore, but also because exams were canceled due to the disaster and students marks were finalized with the marks from their performance tasks. She also had her friends back. Since school sports were (obviously) over she had way more free time on her hands to spend with them, and more importantly, Hiccup. In the eight days since the storm(s) he had recovered a lot. His lungs were perfectly clear with minimal damage from the drowning incident and his stump was healing nicely. Apparently within the next few weeks he would be receiving his prosthetic and re-learning to walk again. Astrid was surprised at how well he accepted the loss of his limb, but the doctors had said that it was quite common with amputees, but there is still the possibility of PTSD and anxiety, which was a little unsettling but so far he was doing okay.  

 

Today was a big day for Astrid and the Haddock family because Hiccup was finally being released from the hospital and sent home. And no one was more excited than Hiccup himself. He  _ hated _ being in the hospital. For eight days he would constantly be telling his family and friends that he wanted to leave. When he got the news that he could go home he could have jumped ten feet, if he could jump at all. When his parents and Tommy arrived at the hospital to pick him up he would not stop smiling. Astrid and the other teens were not with them because they were back at the Haddock house.

 

“Alright Harrison,” Dr. Nicole Kalt said with a smile, handing Hiccup his crutches. “Take is easy for the first few days so you don’t rip the stitches and be sure to come in for physio at least once, if not twice a week. You will be getting your prosthetic soon and your stump needs to be ready to support your weight.”     

 

Hiccup nodded in agreement and hastily took the crutches under his arms, and with Stoick and Nicole’s help, came to a stand off the bed. This was the first time since the incident he was standing without help from others. Sure, he needed crutches but without having to cling to others. He felt independant again.

 

“You good?” Stoick asked, his hands ready to steady Hiccup if he were to lose his balance.

 

Hiccup adjusted his position, putting all his weight on his crutches for a moment before placing his foot back on the ground, watching his left pant leg dangle slightly. He smiled lightly to his father. “Yeah, I think I got it.”

 

Stoick nodded but was ready to help at any moment. “If you need help,” he started.

 

“Dad,” Hiccup interrupted, looking up at his father. “I got this. You guys have been constantly helping me all week. I’m fine now. I can do this on my own.” His response hadn’t meant to be snappy, but he hated feeling weak, especially in front of his father. 

 

“Let him be, Stoick.” Valka said from beside him, placing a hand on his arm. “He’s stubborn. He’ll be fine.” Stoick smiled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, causing her to giggle slightly. 

 

“Can we leave now?  _ Please _ ?” Hiccup groaned, impatiently tapping one of his crutches on the floor.

 

The three adults in the room chuckled and Valka responded. “Yes, we can leave now.”

 

Hiccup instantly began to make his way towards the door, Valka next to him and Stoick behind him. He stopped at the door, waiting for his mother to open it and turned back towards Nicole. “Thank you, Dr. Kalt.” he said kindly, smiling.

 

Dr. Kalt smiled. “You are very welcome, Harrison.” she gave him a small wave as they Haddock family left the room. She sighed as the door shut behind them before grabbing her clipboard and heading out of the room herself.

 

When the Haddocks exited on the elevator on the main floor of the hospital, Stoick and Valka had to speed walk to keep up with Hiccup. He was moving quite quickly towards the doors, considering he was on crutches for the first time. The waiting room was fairly empty now, since the storm most patients were either recovered or recovering, taking the chaos level from eight days ago down to a minimum. Hiccup barely even noticed how empty the hospital waiting room was because he was focused on getting outside of, what he calls, the ‘Thor-forsaken hospital’.

 

He made it just outside the automatic doors and stopped a few feet from them, standing in the afternoon sun. He hadn’t been outside in eight days and his room was on the north end of the hospital, receiving no direct sunlight through the windows. He was relieved to see that the sky was no longer a sickening black-green colour, but clear blue, with a few, fluffy white clouds floating slowly across. He was enjoying himself until someone attacked him from the side, causing him to jump in their grip.

 

“Gotcha!” said Tommy, chuckling at his brother’s face when he tackled him. “Man, you should've seen your face.” he said, pulling away and placing his arms over his chest.

 

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “Dude, seriously?” he asked, turning on his crutches to face his brother. “Way to ruin a moment.”

 

Now Tommy was rolling his eyes. “Why do you have to make a production out of  _ everything _ ?” he joked.

 

“Hey! I’ve been stuck in a stuffy hospital room for eight days! Let me enjoy this!” he protested.

 

Stoick and Valka walked up besides them. “Well?” Stoick asked, looking down at his son’s. “Are we going?”

 

“Yes!” Tommy and Hiccup replied at the same time, causing their parents to chuckle. 

 

Stoick, Valka and Tommy made their way down the slim front steps of the hospital, leaving Hiccup at the top. He was about to descend the steps but decided against it, not wanting to fall (because knowing his clumsiness, he would). He looked for the ramp but found it was currently blocked off by an extremely large tree that was still being removed by a small construction crew. The only other ramp was at the emergency entrance on the other end of the building.

 

“Uh, a little help?” he asked, causing the three Haddocks to turn back towards him.

 

Stoick was about to ascend the steps to help when Tommy beat him to it, running up the steps. Tommy then turned his back to his brother and leaned down in front of him. Hiccup gave him a questioning look from behind him before Tommy told him to ‘climb on’. Hiccup smiled and dropped the crutches before, carefully hopping off his right leg and onto his brother’s back.

 

Tommy grabbed Hiccup’s legs and Hiccup held tommy’s shoulders before they, quickly, descended the steps, Valka pulling out her phone to record from the bottom of the stairs. the two brothers laughed.

 

Hiccup then reached an arm out in front of him, hand balled into a fist and yelled “Onwards Aoshima!”

 

Stoick chuckled and climbed back up the stairs to grab the crutches before joining Valka at the bottom, placing his free hand around Valka’s shoulders as she filmed the boys running across the sidewalk to the parking garage, Tommy nearly tripping and falling face first on the concrete, causing Hiccup to yell out “Shit!” as he nearly lost his grip and fell off.

 

“Language!” Valka called out, Stoick trying not to laugh before they both headed towards the boys.

 

**…**

 

The car ride was fairly quiet except for the radio, which was playing music quietly as they drove. Hiccup was staring out the window with much interest, looking at the scenery. They took a more direct route home, instead of driving by the school now that the roads were open. Everything was looking just as it was six days ago, for most of the drive, until they past a small neighborhood that had been destroyed. The road was clear but the homes were demolished. Some had their upper levels collapsed or the entire house was gone. There were construction workers clearing the remaining debris, somewhere repairing damaged roofs on homes while others repaired damaged foundation so a new house could be built.

 

One house had partially collapsed on one side and had a huge hole in the front upper level. Hiccup stared at it questioningly until he saw the mangled remains of a car in front of the house, being loaded into a truck to be taken away. A boy and a girl, presumably his sister, played on the lawn together. The boy holding a steering wheel while the girl chased him, giggling happily as if all was right with the world before tripping on a piece of debris, which appeared to be a table leg, that was left on the grass.

 

Another house they past was taken down completely. Construction workers were removing the damaged wooden beams and moving salvageable beams to the side in a  neat pile. There were two people standing on the front lawn close to the road looking at the house. it was Heather and her older brother, David. He was four years older than Hiccup and they used to hang out a little when they were younger. He left for university under an athletics scholarship two years ago, and it surprised Hiccup to see him. Heather turned her head towards the car when she heard it drive by, and when seeing Hiccup in the window she gave him a small smile and wave, which he returned. 

 

As they kept driving the damage became minor the closer they got home. Hiccup was still looking out the window but instead of looking about he was lost in thought. Why were they the lucky ones? Why did it seem like everyone else lost something major in their lives but they didn’t? Homes, gone. Possessions, memories, gone. People, gone. And yet they came out basically unscathed. They were all still alive, their house was still there, the only thing missing was a limb.

 

Hiccup felt an overwhelming sensation of guilt wash over him. Losing a leg was nothing compared to losing a home, a family member. He was watching the news and found out that just over 80 people had died. And that 12 of them had been high school students. The people he went to school with. They had their whole lives ahead of them, some of them about to graduate and start a new chapter in their lives, and now they were dead. He had nothing planned yet. No true career path or anything special for his life. So why was he so lucky when they weren’t?

 

His thoughts were cut off when their car parked in their driveway. He looked at his house to see only a  few shingles missing overall. There were a few pieces of debris in the yard. Stoick, Valka and Tommy all hopped out of the car, Hiccup opened his door slowly and waited for Stoick to get his crutches from the trunk. He swung his legs around so they were dangling out the door as he waited for his crutches. Looking out at his neighborhood he saw that most of the houses were in the same condition as his, except for a few that had tarps over their roofs to prevent leaking through holes made by debris and windows blocked off where they, too, had been hit with debris.

 

Stoick handed him his crutches and he slowly stood up and adjusted the crutches under his arms. He then made his way up to the house. Tommy was beside him, trying not to grin (and failing) while their parents were behind them, smiling hand in hand. When they reached the door, Tommy simply turned the handle and pushed the door open an inch. Hiccup raised an eyebrow. Had his parents not locked the door? He then turned to Tommy who was just standing next to him, smiling.

 

“Lady’s first.” he said, gesturing to the door.

 

Hiccup rolled his eyes and gave Tommy a light shove. “Whatever.” he muttered, smiling.

 

He pushed the door open before carefully placing his crutches on the step into the house and pulled himself in. He wasn’t even two steps into the dark house when the lights were suddenly turned on and he was suddenly standing in front of a large group of people, all smiling at him.

 

“Welcome home!” they all said in sync. In front of his was Astrid, her uncle Finn, Scott, Steven (his uncle), Seline (his aunt), Trey, Renée and Fisher. They were all standing together underneath a homemade banner that read ‘ _ Welcome Home Hiccup! _ ’ in large, green letters.

 

He was frozen in place, in shock almost. He hadn’t had true friends or people who cared about him (besides Stoick, Valka and Tommy that is) before. This was all new to him. It had been  _ years  _ since he had a birthday party with friends, and not because he only had an actual birthday every four years. Everyone was smiling and clapping, happy to see him. If there weren’t people around him, he might have started crying. 

 

He was brought out of his thoughts when Stoick placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, smiling down at him. At the sudden contact, Hiccup jumped slightly before looking up at his father. “W-what is all… this?” he asked, looking at everyone in front of him.

 

“It’s a little welcome home surprise.” Stoick said, smiling.

 

Hiccup took a breath. “I-I get that but… but why?” he asked.

 

Stoick’s smile dropped slightly. “Do you… do you not like it?”

 

Hiccup shook his head quickly. “No, I-I do, but, why?” He looked around, trying to find an answer. “I mean, this is… nice. But why? Why for me? I-I didn’t do anything…”

 

Valka walked over and placed a hand on Hiccup’s other shoulder. “We thought that after everything we went through, that  _ you _ went through, we could use something to lift our spirits.” she said with a kind smile, which Hiccup returned.

 

“Well then, uh… thanks. I guess…” he said shyly, blushing slightly causing everyone to chuckle. 

 

**…**

 

Their small welcome home party had turned into a party in general. Everyone was chatting and having snacks and enjoying the company, except for Hiccup. He was never actually a fan of parties in the first place, so he sat in the living room, lost in thought. Over the past week, he had been experiencing minor flashbacks to the events of the storm. Small things like things people said or things he saw would draw him into a flashback. They were easy to escape from and they didn’t last long, but the dreams did. He would have trouble sleeping at night, and when he did sleep, he was pulled into flashbacks. Most of them were him being trapped in the hole with the water flowing in and his leg stinging painfully. Sometimes he couldn’t escape the dreams, and if he did he would have a light phantom itch in his left leg. Or, where it should be. The doctors said that was normal with amputees, but that wasn’t what worried him. He could take a little bit of pain.

 

He was worried he was getting PTSD. Posttraumatic stress disorder. He didn’t want PTSD, no one would. But with the missing leg and relationships with friends and family on the mend, he already had a lot on his mind already. He didn’t want to go into flashbacks when someone said something about a storm or water or even the word ‘trapped’. He didn’t want to start having anxiety attacks (which according to the doctors were possible with PTSD). And he was worried about what might happen next time there was a thunderstorm. He grew up with thunderstorms happening frequently in Berk in the warmer months. He was even used to the occasional, yet usually minor, tornado in town. He’d grown up with it in his life. But he had never,  _ ever _ had an experience like this one. He was worried a thunderstorm might send him into another flashback, but maybe even worse than the small ones he was having now. He was worried he’d get anxiety when he heard a small rumble or saw a flash. 

 

He didn’t want it. Any of it. he didn’t want the flashbacks, he didn’t want to worry, he didn’t want anxiety, he didn’t want to have dreams or nightmares, he didn’t want to deal with phantom pains, and  he didn’t want PTSD. He wanted to be normal again. He wanted his old life. His  _ older _ life. Where he had friends that actually wanted him around, no stress over exams and school, his mother wasn’t gone all the time and his father listened to him more. He wanted that back.

 

“Hey,” a voice said, drawing him out of his thoughts and causing him to jump. He looked up to see Astrid smiling lightly down at him.

 

“Oh, uh, hey Astrid.” he said slowly, looking back down at his hands.

 

Astrid sat down next to Hiccup and took a breath, looking out in front of her at the people chatting and laughing. She then turned her head to look at him. “So,” she began quietly. “What’s up?”

 

Hiccup stayed silent, looking at his hands still before realizing she was talking to him. “Huh?” he began. “S-sorry. Just… thinking.” he said quietly.

 

She nodded and sat back against the couch, crossing her arms. They sat in silence before she spoke up. “About what?” she asked.

 

Hiccup let out a breath and leaned back as well, resting his hands in his lap. “Everything.” he said, looking over at her. Her hair was wavy and pulled back into a ponytail high on her head. Her piercing blue eyes stared into his as if she was searching them for his thoughts.

 

“Why are you over here all by yourself?” she asked.

 

He looked away, at the groups of people chatting in the kitchen in front of him. “I don’t really liked parties.” he said, looking back at her, shrugging. “Never really have.”

 

Astrid nodded, slouching in her seat and relaxing. “I don’t either.” she said, surprising him. “People are either too noisy or too drunk. It’s irritating.” 

 

He took a breath,thinking about what she had said. “Oh.”

 

She smiled, looking at him with a questioning eyebrow raised. “ _ Oh _ ?” she asked, teasingly.

 

“Well, I always assumed that, well s-since you were, I-I don’t know, decently popular I guess, that you  _ liked _ parties.” he said, stuttering as he felt pressured to answer.

 

“Oh, no.” she said. “I usually  _ hate _ them. Small parties like this are fine though.” She looked to him before gesturing to him with her chin. “So, what about you?” He looked at her before she continued. “Why don’t you like parties?”

 

Hiccup leaned back, looking up at the ceiling if it had suddenly become interesting. “I don’t know.” he said honestly, shrugging. “I just… never really fit in at parties, I guess.”

 

Astrid nodded, leaning back as well. They stared at the ceiling for a while, wondering what the other was thinking. Astrid's eyes occasionally drifted over to Hiccup. He was deep in thought. his eyes focused on the ceiling and his breathing deep, his lips pulled into a straight line. She become bored quickly and began counting his freckles, losing track countless times. She didn’t like the silence. And she could tell he was thinking about something serious. She just wished he would talk to her about whatever it was. She had sunken lower on the couch, sinking into the soft cushions more and more until she was looking up at him. She needed to talk to him about whatever was bugging him.

 

“Hiccup.” she said, trying to gain his attention. When that didn’t work, she kept trying. “Hey. Hey, Hiccup. Down here. Hello?” she asked repeatedly in a joking tone, light smile on her face. 

 

Her smile dropped when she heard his breath hitch. She looked at him, her sapphire eyes slowly filling with concern. “Hiccup?” She sat up trying to get a better look at him.

 

His eyes were glazed over and unfocused, his face frozen in a shocked, wide eyed expression. His breathing was uneven and shaking with every breath he took. Then he slowly started shaking. And it was scaring her.

 

“Hiccup?” she asked, louder. Her voice filled with fear and concern.

 

He couldn’t hear her. He wasn’t really there.

 

_ Clang, creak. ‘Hey! Hey we’re down here! Hello!?’  _

  
He was having a flashback.


	15. Every Step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS:  
> There is a PTSD flashback and a little bit of anxiety in this chapter. The depression, PTSD and anxiety will come in to play a fair bit in future chapters, just so you all know.

_ Clang. Creak. _

 

_ “Hey! Hey we’re down here! Hello?!” _

 

_ Bang. Clang. Freezing. Gasp. Water. Breathe. _

 

_ “What’s happened?” _

 

_ Cough. Breathe. Water. _

 

_ “I-I think a pipe burst!” _

 

_ “Oh gods!” _

 

_ “We’ve gotta close the gap!”  _

 

_ Rushing water. Rising. Rising. Breathe.  _

 

_ “I’m trying! Nothing’s working! Do you have your phone?” _

 

_ Bang. Cold. Freezing water. More, more, more. Rising. Breathe. _

 

_ “Another pipe went!” _

 

_ Drown. Rising. Rising. Water. Breathe. _

 

_ “Can you help me stand?” _

 

_ “Ready? On three. One, two, three!” _

 

_ Pain. Water. Cold. Rising. Breathe. _

 

_ “It’s still down!” _

 

_ Gasp. Water. Breathe. _

 

_ “Oh gods! There’s a bar! There's a bar!” _

 

_ “ _ You’ve reached Stoick. Leave a message. _ ”  _

 

_ Gasp. Think. Breathe. _

 

_ “D-Dad! Dad, please help us! T-the building fell down on top of us and there’s water pouring in! I-I don’t know how long we’ve got! Dad! It’s dead. I-it’s dead. I-I’m sorry.” _

 

_ Water. Freezing. Rising. Rising. Breathe. _

 

_ “D-ad-d!” _

 

_ “Hiccup!” _

 

_ Gasp. Cough. Cold. Breathe. _

 

_ “I’ve got you! I’ve got you, son!” _

 

_ “What are you doing!?” _

 

_ “Get out of the way!”. _

 

_ “Get under! We’re gonna move this beam!” _

 

_ “O-ay!” _

 

_ Freezing. Gasp. Cold. Water. _

 

_ Cold. Scream. Breathe. Pain. _

 

_ Cough. Water. Pain. Cold. Choke. _

 

_ Breathe. Choke. Black. _

 

_ Black. Cold. Pain. Pain. _

 

_ Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. _

 

_ “BREATHE!”.  _

**…**

 

“Hiccup?!” Astrid cried, growing worried. Hiccup was shaking, barely breathing, choking almost. She was panicking. She was so confused and scared. “Stoick! Valka!” she yelled. She was shaking him, trying to get him to respond. His breathing became wheezing and she began to freak out. “Valka! Stoick! Something’s wrong!  _ HURRY! _ ”

 

In seconds Stoick and Valka, with Tommy close behind were in front of them. Hiccup’s eyes were wide and unfocused, glazed over. He was shaking violently now, making wheezing, choking noises as if he couldn’t breathe. It sounded like he was…  _ drowning. _

 

“Oh no,” Stoick breathed. He knew what this was. The doctors had warned him of this just two days ago. Hiccup was having a flashback. Hiccup’s breathing was getting worse and Stoick needed to bring him out of it. Now. 

 

“ _ It’s d-dead… _ ” Hiccup mumbled. “ _ m’sorry… s’dead… _ ”

 

“Everyone back. Please.” Stoick said, trying not to make any loud, sudden noises. The doctors had talked to him about flashbacks and anxiety. If you were loud or sudden, you could make things worse.

 

“ _ D-ad-d... _ ” Hiccup mumbled softly, breathing was difficult for him now.

 

Valka turned to everyone who was crowding near the living room. “Everyone into the dining room. Now.” she ordered, hurrying everyone to leave. Astrid was reluctant to leave, as well as Tommy, so they (along with Valka) stood off to the side and watched. 

 

Stoick kneeled down infront of his son, reaching a hand forward slowly. “Hiccup,” he said slowly and calmly. “It’s just me, son. I’m putting my hand on your shoulder. Okay?” Stoick then slowly placed a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder, rubbing it comfortably. “It’s not real. Okay? It feels real, but you’re okay. You’re alright. You’re at home. You’re home, Hiccup.”

 

_ “O-ay.”  _ Hiccup mumbled quietly before choking, it wasn’t a response. He was still in the flashback.

 

Stoick placed his other hand on Hiccup’s other shoulder, slowly and gently. “I’m right here, son. It’s alright. You’re alright. You’re at home, son. You’re on the living room, on the couch. You’re okay. It’s not real. You’ve gotta snap out of it. Alright?”

 

Hiccup was now holding his breath, still shaking. Before Stoick could say anything else Hiccup screamed. It was a spine chilling scream that was weak and horrifying from lack of air in the lungs. But it was still so loud Stoick almost had to cover his ears. It didn’t last longer that six seconds before it was cut off by a wheezing-choking noise and for a moment, Hiccup stopped breathing. 

 

“Hiccup?” Stoick asked, gently. His voice shaking slightly. He received no response. The scene before him was horrifying. Hiccup wasn’t breathing, but his eyes were wide open and his whole body was shaking. “Son?”

 

Seconds later, Hiccup let out a loud gasp for breath, startling everyone before he relaxed completely. His body relaxed, almost completely ceasing to shake, his eyes closed and his breathing calmed slightly. It was still fast, but it wasn’t as heavy as before. After a few moments of quiet, Hiccup stirred under Stoick’s hands.

 

“D… D-ad…?” he asked quietly, eyes opening slightly. When his eyes opened, Stoick could see that they were no longer glazed over, but tears forming in them and beginning to spill down his son’s cheeks.

 

“Yes, son?” Stoick asked quietly, gently. Just above a whisper.

 

Hiccup took a shaky breath and shut his eyes in pain. “...it h… it hurts…” he whined.

 

“What hurts?”

 

Tears slipped through Hiccup’s eyes with every slight movement the boy made. “M...y le-g…”

 

Stoick sighed, rubbing Hiccup’s shoulder with one hand while the other wiped away the tears. “I know. I know, son. It’ll be alright.”

 

Hiccup took a shaky breath and leaned to the side slightly, against Stoicks hand. “Dad… D-ad m’... tired…” he breathed, sniffling slightly.

 

“Alright. Let’s get you to bed then.” Stoick said, picking Hiccup up and holding him with one arm under his knees and one around his shoulders. Hiccup curled up in the hold, arms crossed over his torso and his head against Stoick’s chest.

 

Stoick slowly came to a stand turning to the stairs when he saw the large group of people watching what was happening. “He’s alright. Doctors said a flashback was likely happen at some point.” he said. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

 

Stoick headed up the stairs, gently, to Hiccup's room, pushing the door open with his back. He walked in, nearly tripping on a few books that were strewn about the room. Mumbling a quiet curse under his breath at the mess. When it came to school work and such, Hiccup was very organized. But when it came to his room, not so much. He walked over to the bed, which thankfully hadn’t been made, and lay Hiccup down on it, tucking him under the comforter. 

 

He stood next to the bed for a moment, wishing there was something he could do to erase the pained look off his son’s face. From what the doctors said about phantom pains, there wasn’t much you could do to help. Some doctors suggest antidepressants as a way to counteract the pain, but Hiccup hated medication. He would refuse to take it because said it made him feel weird and it was difficult to swallow or tasted funny. When he was younger, Hiccup would be up late, sick with the flu, and Stoick, or Valka, would be up all night with him trying to get him to take the medicine. He was extremely stubborn.

 

He ran a hand through Hiccup’s hair, making a mental note that he needed a haircut, and smiled when Hiccup relaxed at the touch. The two hadn’t been very close lately. Stoicks job as vice principal becomes very stressful in the last two-three months of the school year and Valka had been gone for just as long. Hiccup was going through a lot with school and his friends, as well as the video time capsule that he was being pressured to finish. Stoick wasn’t entirely there for him then, when his son needed him, but he swore to himself that he would do everything in his power to be there for him now. 

 

Stoick smoothed out Hiccup's hair one last time before turning to exit the room. Before he even took two steps towards the door he felt something grip his hand. It wasn’t a strong hold, but the touch that drew Stoick’s attention towards the boy. His eyes were only open ever so slightly, forest green shimmering in the dim light from the hallway as tears shed the corners of them. When he spoke, his voice was weak and small.

 

“D-...don’t leave…” he whispered, voice filled with pain and fear. The pain coming from his phantom limb, and the fear that he would be left alone in the dark with his thoughts, again.

 

Stoick stepped back towards the bed, kneeling down next to it and grasping Hiccup’s hand tightly. His hands were freezing compared to the heat of his forehead, and Stoick made a mental note to get a cold towel to cool him down. “I’m just going to address everyone with what’s happened. I’ll be right back after.” Stoick spoke quietly, trying to reassure the frightened, pained boy before him. 

 

Hiccups eyes widened and his breathing quickened ever so slightly. “No…” He shook his head gently. “Don’t le-...eave me alone…please…” he whined softly. He hated sounding to desperate, so  _ weak _ . He felt weak, whining to his father at age sixteen to not be left alone in the dark with his own thoughts. He needed company, a distraction, like he needed air in his lungs.  

 

Stoick gave him a reassuring smile. “Alright.” he stated, placing a gentle hand on Hiccup’s shoulder. “I’ll call your mother up. But I will be back, okay?” he asked, looking for even the slightest response.

 

Hiccup was hesitant, but then nodded. “O-okay…” he whispered, barely audible.

 

Stoick nodded and then turned towards the door, not letting go of Hiccup’s hand. “Val!” he called, trying to sound calm to prevent panic downstairs. “Could you come up here, please?” He didn’t receive a response, just the quick, yet light footsteps of his wife climbing the stairs. 

 

Valka gently opened the door, peerign inside before walking in. She walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, reaching a hand out and placing it on Hiccup’s cheek, the temperature surprising her but she didn’t pull away. She ran her thumb gently across his cheek, wiping away some of the tears that had leaked from his eyes. “Hey, baby.” she whispered.

 

Hiccup groaned, at first the two parents thought it was in pain until he spoke. “Mom, I’m… m’sixteen…” he said, clearly in annoyance but it barely showed through .

 

Valka chuckled lightly. “That may be true, but you’re still a baby to me.” she whispered, her hand leaving his cheek and running her fingers through his soft hair.

 

Stoick gently released Hiccup’s hand and came to a stand. “Stay with him until I get back, alright?” he asked Valka softly. Valka smiled up at him and nodded before he exited the room and descended the stairs.

 

**…**

 

Astrid and Tommy were worried. They knew it had to have been a flashback, but they didn’t know the severity of it or what had even caused it. From what they heard and witnessed, it had been a bad one, most likely from when he had drowned back at the factory. It was horrifying to witness the event in person those eight days ago, but to see it from Hiccup’s point of view (kind of) was horrific. No one knew what had happened exactly when Tommy moved the beam except for that it trapped Hiccup’s leg, but it had clearly been extremely painful. What worried them more was when Stoick called Vlaka upstairs so suddenly. They didn’t know enough about PTSD or flashbacks to get a clear idea of what could be happening upstairs, and they didn’t even want to think about it. Yet, it was all they  _ could _ think about. After a few moments of silence, Stoick’s form descended the stairs. He didn’t seem worried or panicked as they would have thought. He looked completely calm.

 

Tommy was the first to speak. “Is he okay?” he asked, concerned. Everyone looked to Stoick awaiting the answer to the question they were all asking.

 

Stoick nodded, giving a reassuring smile. “He’s fine. He’s got a phantom pain right now and he’s a little shaken but he’ll be alright.” Stoick almost heard everyone in the room simultaneously let out a breath of relief.

 

Astrid then gathered herself and spoke up. “What caused the flashback?” she asked. She was worried she had caused it. That she had caused Hiccup to relive that horrific memory. It hurt to know that something she had said or did subconsciously had caused him pain. She already had the guilt of having him help her with her project on her shoulders, this didn’t need to be added to the pile. 

 

“It could have been anything.” Stoick said with a shrug. “This early on triggers can be simple, little things most of us wouldn’t think would cause a flashback. The doctors were surprised nothing had happened this far into his recovery. Later the triggers should become left sensitive. All you can do for now is, if he goes into one, try and talk him out of it, like you saw.”

 

There was a long silence. No one spoke. They all saw how Stoick was trying to coax Hiccup out of the flashback while the boy was making breathless, choking noises as if he w drowned before their very eyes. And what was worse, was the fact that anything at all could throw him into a painful reenactment of the storms events. Heck, the teens and even Astrid had experienced nightmares from the storm, but none of them were as bad as what they had witnessed. Hiccup was actually reliving the events, the pain, the sights. They could only imagine what it would be like to be trapped in their own nightmares like that.           

 

Astrid was mentally slapping herself, blaming herself for the flashback. _He said anything could have caused it! Why are you freaking out?_ ** _Because I was talking to him when it happened! That’s why!_** _It could have been a noise he heard-_ ** _yeah, like something I said!_** _Oh gods you’re losing your mind._ She shook her head mentally, riding her mind of her thoughts. Even if it was her that had caused the flashback, she knew what to do the next time one happened. She could help him get through his PTSD, if he could get through it at all. Either way, Astrid would be there for him whenever she could.

 

Every step.


	16. Thoughts

Hiccup fell asleep soon after his father left the room. Valka had been running her hands through his hair, his head on her lap while she sat against his headboard. Seeing him asleep wasn't a surprise considering what he'd been through earlier that day. He left the hospital for the first time in a week, hurriedly walking about on his crutches, being surprised with a homecoming party and then suffering his first flashback. Valka would have been concerned if he  _ hadn't _ been tired out, even the slightest.

She had begun softly humming a song she used to sing to the boys when they were younger, 'For the Dancing and the Dreaming'. She was beginning to fall asleep herself before she even finished the song, but before she could completely drift off, Stoick entered the room. She sat up from her slouched position against the headboard and smiled at him. He smiled back and gently closed the door slightly behind him, letting the golden light from the hallway shine in.

"How's he doing?" Stoick asked, making his way to the side of the bed, peering down at the now sleeping form of his son.

Valka looked down at Hiccup, his face no longer pinched tightly in pain. He had finally relaxed, his phantom pain dying down. "He's finally asleep." she said, running her fingers through his hair. Hiccup stirred slightly at the touch but didn't wake.

Stoick nodded, letting out a sigh in relief. He didn't need his boy up all night in pain or suffering from flashbacks and nightmares. One flashback was enough for a month. Hiccup didn't deserve this.  _ Any _ of this. 

 

"Are you going to stay with him? He asked not to be left alone. Tommy's already heading to bed." he asked, quietly. He placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, massaging it gently.

Valka nodded. "I'll stay. He needs someone with him." she stated, she would hate herself if she had left and he had a nightmare.

"I can stay if you want to head to bed, Val." he suggested. "I wouldn't mind."

Valka smiled, not taking her eyes of Hiccup. "No, it's alright. You helped him out of his flashback. You need your sleep." she replied.

Stoick nodded before raising himself from his slouched stand. He then leaned over the bed, careful not to wobble it and wake the exhausted boy, cupped Valka's chin and giving her a short kiss on her forehead. He pulled back with a smile and leaned down to do the same to Hiccup. He was slightly concerned that the boy's temperature hadn't gone down as much as he would have liked, but it was lowering. He walked to the door, whispering a soft goodnight to the two before opening the door to leave.

 

**…**

 

The next morning, Valka woke before Hiccup had, which was no surprise to her considering the night before. It was fairly late in the morning, almost ten judging by the light slipping through the closed blinds. Hiccup stirred slightly in his sleep, bringing Valka’s attention back to him. She placed a gentle hand on his forehead, feeling his temperature as he leaned into her touch. Thankfully it had dropped back to normal overnight and he no longer appeared to have any lingering signs of his phantom pain.

 

She ran her fingers through his hair softly, smiling as he moved into her touch. She’d missed her boys so much in the months she’d been away. She hated to be gone from them for so long, especially when they were younger. It was never easy. It still wasn’t easy, and after the recent events she didn’t think she could ever do it again.

 

Sometimes even coming back was hard. After coming home to Hiccup being depressed and Stoick isolating himself from the boys during the busy school months she had struggled to leave them earlier this year. Stoick and the boys persuaded her to leave, as it was her job and she was doing what she loved to do. Chase. While being away from those she loved and who needed her. 

 

“M… mom?” Hiccups tired voice brought her out of her train of thought. He was just brake awake, green eyes only half open and gazing up at his mother. “What… what time is it?” he asked, tiredly. 

 

“It’s fairly late in the morning.” she answered. “I don’t know for sure since your alarm clock is unplugged.” Valka leaned over and kissed his forehead, pleased that his temperature had not returned and that he had woken up.

 

Hiccups nodded sleepily. He shut his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath in and out before gazing b.s. up at his mother. “How long have you been here, Mom?” he asked, curiously.

 

“Since last night.” she responded. When she saw his slightly shocked and confused expression she chuckled. “You didn’t think I’d leave you by yourself last night, did you?” she teased.

 

“Uh… yes-... no? I-I don’t know.” he stuttered. “Y-You didn’t need to… you should’ve gone to bed, Mom.”

 

Valka shook her head. “No.” she responded plainly. “I couldn’t leave you. And you father even told me you didn’t want to be left alone. And I wasn’t going that happen.” 

 

Hiccup looked down towards his right leg, shifting it and under the blanket and watch as his left did nothing, as it wasn’t there. It was still have to get used to. Waking up for sixteen years with two legs and suddenly having only one was not something anyone could easily adjust to. He wished Valka would’ve gone to bed, but then again he was more comfortable waking up with someone with him than alone like he was in the hospital.

 

He took a breath, looking back up at her. “Thanks Mom.” he said quietly. 

 

Valka smiled, giving him another kiss on his forehead. “You’re very welcome, son.”

 

Hiccup was about to attempt to sit up when there was a knock on the door. Before either Hiccup or Valka could answer Tommy threw the door open and came into the room.

 

“Yes! You’re up!” he exclaimed, smile on his face. “Dad’s making french toast and I wanted to warn you before I eat them all.”

 

Hiccup sat up and smirked. “Is that a challenge?” he asked.

 

Tommy crossed his arms. “You know what? Maybe it is.”

 

Hiccup held his stare, reaching a hand in the direction of his crutches, silently asking Valka to grab them for him. Holding back a chuckle, Valka swung her legs over the side of the bed and reached for the crutches that were leaning against the wall and handing them to Hiccup. Hiccup hastily stood up on his right foot and placed the crutches under his arms.

 

“You’re  _ so  _ going down.”

 

Tommy, trying not to laugh, ran out of the room towards the stairs. Hiccup rolled his eyes and began making his way to the door. “Hey, no fair!” he yelled. “You aren’t stuck in crutches!”

 

“Life isn’t fair!” Tommy yelled back, his socks causing him to slide on the hardwood floors. He grabbed the stair railing to stop himself, but he was suddenly halted he fell straight forward onto his face. 

 

Hiccup slowly made his way towards his brother, holding in his laughter, and stopped right in front of the stairs. He turned his head as Tommy looked up at him, frowning as Hiccup began to descend the stairs, purposefully taking up as much space as he could with his crutches so Tommy couldn’t pass.

 

Tommy whined from his spot on the floor. “Not. Fair.”

 

“ _ Life isn’t fair! _ ” Hiccup responded, throwing Tommy’s own words back at him.

 

Valka walked out of Hiccup's room, stretching her arms and chuckling at the boys. She walked over to Tommy, who was still on the floor with his head down. When he looked up at her she held out her hand, lifting him off the floor.

 

“I swear, you boys never change.” Valka chuckled. 

 

Tommy was about to respond when Stoick called up from the kitchen. “Tommy! Hiccup’s beating you to the table!” 

 

Before Valka could blink Tommy was running down the stairs to the kitchen. As he made it to the kitchen he saw Hiccup sitting at the table. Stoick was walking over to the table with a plate of french toast and placed it in front of Hiccup. He smirked at his brother, picked up a piece of french toast and mouthed ‘ _ I win _ .’ 

 

Tommy sighed in defeat and sat down at the table across from Hiccup. Stoick brought over a second plate of french toast from him and placed it down on the table.

 

“Oh! I almost forgot.” Stoick exclaimed suddenly, grabbing the phone off the counter. “Astrid called this morning. She wanted to see how you were doing.”

 

Hiccup paused just before taking another bite of his toast.  _ Of course she called,  _ he thought to himself. He wasn’t too surprised. Almost every single day since he was hospitalized, Astrid would come and visit him at some point. She didn’t miss a day. At first he found it strange that she would go through the trouble to come everyday, but then he remembered what they had talked about when they were trapped. They both admitted that they had feelings for eachother, but over the past few days they didn’t address them. Even the slightest.

 

She would visit him everyday, hold his hand and give him a kiss on the forehead before she left, but what happened down in the hole where they were trapped, never came up. Why Astrid was so open with him so suddenly, after not talking in years. He was worried her feelings for him were just something that came out in the heat of the moment, and the only reason she was sticking around was because she felt guilty. After all,she did say that she felt that this was all her fault.

 

“She said she’s coming over around eleven.” Stoick added. “That alright with you?” 

 

Hiccup waited a moment, going over his thoughts from the past few minutes. Did he really want to see her? He blocked those thoughts out and nodded. “Yeah.” he said. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

 

“Good.” Stoick responded. Placing two more pieces of french toast on a plate and handing it to Valka. “Goodmorning, my dear.” he smiled, handing Valka the plate and giving her a small kiss. 

 

“Good morning.” Valka said, smiling as well. Placing her plate on the counter and turning back towards Stoick. “Did you call Dr. Kalt this morning?” she asked.

 

Stoick nodded. “She wants Hiccup to meet his therapist later this week considering, well, the events of last night.” he said, grabbing his own plate. “She thought it would be a good idea to talk about it soon before another flashback or a panic attack happens.”

 

Valka nodded and looked towards the table where Hiccup and Tommy were seated, talking about a new cartoon they were watching on Tommy’s phone. Even though they both appeared to be enjoying it, Hiccup seemed slightly distracted. Valka could tell. After all, he still had a lot to think about. She knew the feeling. They all did in a way. They all had nightmares and minor flashbacks of the horrors they’d witnessed, just not as severe as his. 

 

What made things worse was that if he was having a nightmare or panic attack he wouldn’t tell anyone and have to deal with it himself. It had happened once at the hospital where Dr. Kalt had told them Hiccup had woken up screaming from a nightmare and didn’t tell and didn’t tell anyone besides the nurse who came to check on him. He hides too much, eventually it will start to tear him down from the inside.

**…**

 

About an hour later, Astrid had arrived at the Haddock household. Tommy and Hiccup had been in the living room, continuing their show when she arrived. The three teens sat awkwardly on the couch for the remainder of the episode, Astrid holding Hiccup's hand as he rested his hand limply in hers. She noticed he was acting different when she arrived. He was acting distant, like he wasn’t all there; lost in thought.  

 

There was an awkward silence after the end of the episode, until Tommy suggested they play Mario Kart. Since they only had two remotes, they took turns. First it was Tommy and Hiccup. Hiccup came in second place and Tommy came in first so he went up against Astrid next. Astrid beat Tommy by a landslide and was now up against Hiccup, who had barely said a word the entire time.

 

“You ready, Hiccup?” she asked, handing him a remote. Hiccup nodded, giving her a small smile, which she returned. “Don’t worry. I’ll go easy on you.” she teased.

 

Hiccup smirked. “Don’t bother.”

 

The race started out slow, both Hiccup and Astrid were in the middle in sixth and seventh place for the first lap. Astrid eventually lead in first place for half of the second lap and then the third. Hiccup sat close behind her in third place. They were coming to the final stretch before the finish line, no obstacles and no question blocks in their path. Suddenly, Hiccup launched a blue shell at Astrid, stopping her just before she could cross the finish line. Hiccup then passed the NPC as well as Astrid and crossed the finish line in first place.

 

“Yes!” Hiccup cheered, raising a fist in the air. Both Tommy and Astrid stared at him in shock.

 

“ _ Where  _ did that come from?!” Astrid asked, slightly in shock.

 

Tommy joined in. “Dude, what the heck! There weren’t  _ any  _ question blocks around!”

 

Hiccup leaned back on the couch, crossing his arms and leaving the remote by his side. “When you get something from the question blocks that doesn’t mean you have to use it right away.” he said, smirking.

 

Tommy gave him an ‘are you serious?’ look. “How long did you have that?” he asked.

 

“Since the end of the second lap.”

 

Astrid snapped out of her minor shock and gave Hiccup a punch in the shoulder. “That’s for cheating.” she said. Hiccup glared at her, holding his arm. She then leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Good game, though.”

 

Hiccup gave her a small smile. “Thanks.” he said, rubbing his arm before picking up the remote again. “Although, I’d hardly call it cheating.” he stated, reaching onto the floor to pick up the remote Astrid had dropped there. “Round two?”

 

Astrid smiled, taking the remote. “You’re  _ so  _ on.” 

 

“I race winner!” Tommy exclaimed, sitting down on the couch and waiting for them to select a cup to race. The phone rang on the side table and Tommy leaned over, picking it up to see who was calling. He didn’t recognise the number, but it was definitely from Berk and didn’t look like a telemarketer. 

 

“Boys!” Stoick called, coming around the small corner from the kitchen. “Where’s the phone?” he asked.

 

Tommy held the ringing phone up. “Here, Dad!” he said, preparing to throw the phone to his father.

 

“Tommy, no-” Stoick began, but Tommy had already tossed the phone and Stoick raced to grab it so it wouldn’t hit the floor, instantly picking up the call when he caught it. “Tommy, I told you, stop throwing the phone!” he exclaimed, holding the phone away from his face. “Nice toss, by the way.”

 

Tommy chuckled, leaning back on the couch. Hiccup gave him a playful shove before tuning back to the TV. “One day, you’re actually gonna break that thing.” Hiccup said. “And the whole ‘nice throw’ plan for getting out of trouble is eventually gonna stop working.”

 

Tommy rolled his eyes and watched as Hiccup selected the ‘Star Cup’ for him and Astrid to begin racing. They had just begun the first race when their attention got brought towards Stoicks conversation on the phone. 

 

“Eric?” Stoick asked the person on the phone. “Yeah, yeah she’s here. Hold on.” he said. He sounded shocked. “Val!” he called upstairs. “Phone’s for you!”  

 

“Coming!” Valka called from their bedroom where she had been getting dressed, since she was still in the clothes from the night before. She came down the stairs into the dining room where Stoick was standing with the phone. 

 

“It’s Eric.” Stoick said, handing her the phone.

 

Valka’s eyes widened and she reached for the phone. She hadn’t talked to Eric since the storm. He was supposed to be staying in town with an old family friend before heading back home when he left to head home. He was supposed to leave yesterday.

 

“Hello? Eric?” she asked.

 

“ _ Valka! _ ” Eric said from the other end of the line.

 

“Eric, I thought you were headed home yesterday!”

 

“ _ Yeah, I was. _ ” Eric answered. “ _ But then I was asked to join a search group to find Calum and Alvin's bodies. _ ”

 

Valka tensed. He was asked to join a search party to find her boss and best friend’s bodies. And he wouldn’t have called her unless they found anything, meaning… “Eric, what did you find?” she asked.

 

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “ _ They found the Titus not too far from the storm drain we were in. It was in a tree. I managed to get the cards from the cameras, thankfully. We were looking for Calum by the church and… _ ” he paused, taking a deep breath. “ _ We found him. He was buried under some other debris. His body was… _ ” he stopped there. Valka felt some tears sting in her eyes at just the thought. “ _ We found his camera, too _ .”       

 

Valka’s eyes widened. “You… you found his camera?” she asked. 

 

“ _ Yeah. Fully intact, surprisingly. _ ” he confirmed, chuckling slightly. “ _ Some fire damage on eh outside, cracked lense but the memory card is perfectly fine. We have it here if you want to pick it up along with the Titus camera footage. I know your boys are decent with computers so maybe they could pull some stuff off of it. _ ” 

 

Valka nodded, but then remembered Eric couldn’t actually see her. “Yeah. I’ll leave in a few. Where are you?” she asked.

 

“ _ We’re in the parking lot outside the church _ .”

 

“Alright.” she said. “See you soon.” And she hung up. She looked up at Stoick, who was looking at her, eyes full of concern. “They found Alvin and Calum’s bodies.” she answered, sniffling slightly but still holding strong. “They found Calum’s camera card and the cards from the Titus. They want me to go and pick it up.”

 

Stoick gave her a questioning look. “Why do they want you to take the cards?” he asked.

 

“They think maybe the boys can pull the footage off of them and maybe edit what’s left. To complete the project we started.” she said. “So, maybe, their deaths didn’t mean completely nothing in the end.” She had a tear escape her eye and she took a deep breath.

 

Tommy stood up, handing Hiccup his crutches that he had been reaching for as Astrid helped him stand. Tommy was the first to speak. “We’re coming with you.” he said.

 

Before Valka could protest, Stoick had placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll all go.” he said, massaging her shoulder gently. “Alright?” When she nodded, Stoick smiled to her. “Good. Now, get ready. We’ll be leaving in two minutes.”

 

Tommy went to go change his shirt before they left and Hiccup was going to the door to put his shoes on. When he reached the door he sat down the the small bench and leaned over to pick up his shoes. He picked up the left shoe first out of habit and then remembered he no longer had a left foot anymore. He sighed, dropping the left shoe back where it had been previously. This would take some getting used to. Atleast he didn’t have to worry about losing his left socks anymore.  _ I wonder if I’ll get shoes half off since I only need the one? _ he thought to himself.

 

“Hey,” a voice said, snapping him out of his thoughts. It was Astrid who was sitting next to him on the bench. She was holding his right shoe out for him to put on. “You sure you want to go back out there?” she asked. She didn’t even sound sure that she wanted to head back out of town.

 

Hiccup nodded. “I’m sure.” he said nervously, turning his head towards her after putting his shoe on. “It’s fine.” he said with a small smile.

 

Astrid returned the smile and gave him a small side hug before coming to a stand and helping him up off the bench. Tommy had just come back from downstairs and Stoick and Valka were all ready to go. They all left the house and climbed into the car while Stoick locked the door. Hiccup sat on the right side so he could climb out easily, Astrid sat next to him in the middle and Tommy on the left. There was a tense feeling lingering in the vehicle as Stoick descended the small steps off the front porch, no one dared speak.

 

Just as they were turning off their street, a thought occurred to Hiccup. He was at war with himself if he should even consider going back there, since the events of the night before. Hesitantly, he took a breath and spoke up. “Dad?” he asked.

 

“Yes?” Stoick responded, looking back and forth for any oncoming cars.

  
“Can… can we...” he began, taking a deep breath again as Tommy, aStrid and Valka looked towards him. “C-can we stop at the paper mill on Garner?”


	17. Return to the Mill

“C-can we stop at the paper mill on Garner?”

 

Stoick almost slammed on the breaks in the middle of the intersection as everyone else turned to face Hiccup, eyes wide in confusion and shock. When they crossed the intersection, Stoick pulled over on the side of the road and turned to face his son.

 

“What?” he asked, just as confused as everyone else.

 

Hiccup took another shaky breath. “Can we stop at the… at the paper mill? O-on Garner?” he asked hesitantly.

 

Yet again everyone looked at him in shock. “Why?” Valka asked him, turning almost completely around in her seat.

 

“My, uh… my camera’s still there.” he replied, not looking at anyone as his hands suddenly became interesting. “A-and I want to go get it.”

 

Astrid reached forwards and placed a hand on Hiccup’s arm, silently asking him to look at her. “Do you… are you sure you want to go back…  _ there _ ?” she asked, not very happy to be going back there herself.

 

“Astrid has a point, son.” Stoick said. “It might not be best for you two to go back there so soon.”

 

Valka nodded in agreement. “Especially after last night… i-it’s not the best idea.” she pointed out, voice full of worry.

 

They were all worried. Hiccup did have his reasons, but he suffered a flashback the night before and with such a small trigger. Going back to the paper mill, where he and Astrid were trapped, where his leg was crushed, where he drowned, was the last place they wanted him to go. It was the last place  _ he  _ wanted to go.

 

Hiccup knew they had their reasons for questioning whether or not to return to the mill, he wasn’t too keen on the idea either. He felt like it was something he needed to do. After the flashback, he felt weak, afraid and depressed like it had drained all of the life from his body. Thinking of the hole they were trapped in under the mill was like thinking of a bottomless pit of darkness and pain. But, he felt that if he went back to the mill, back and faced it again, it would help him in the end.

 

Hiccup closed his eyes. “I-I know..” he began. “But I need to do this.” he said, determination present in his voice. 

 

His fists were clenched tightly, resting on his lap. Astrid had noticed, as she was sitting right next to him, and placed her hand on his reassuringly. He almost pushed her hand away, his thoughts from earlier that morning returning, but he appreciated the comfort. 

 

Stoick looked to Valka. Her eyes were still filled with worry but they were still asking him silently to agree. Stoick was battling himself. He knew Hiccup had good reasons, but he was worried for the well being of his son. He wasn’t to keen on going there himself. Last time he was there, he had found his son and the young Hofferson trapped under the debris, then had to jump into frigid waters to retrieve his unconscious body. Not to mention giving his son CPR after discovering that he was dead. That, by far, was the worst moment of Stoicks life. All of it happened at that mill within ten minutes. Eventually, he sighed, shutting his eyes before turning to face the three teens in the back. 

 

“Alright.” he agreed. “But, if any of you feel uncomfortable being out there,  _ please _ just come back to the car.”

 

The teens nodded, no one spoke. Astrid held Hiccup’s hand a little tighter and leaned towards him, her head eventually resting on his shoulder. Tommy had a hand resting on Astrid’s shoulder in comfort for the both of them. Hiccup was slightly tense under Astrid’s touch, as the thoughts were running through his mind beyond his control.

 

_ Astrid doesn’t really care for you, she’s just feeling guilty and is comforting herself! The only reason she visits you is because she still blames herself for taking you to the paper mill even though you should have been filming the graduation. Tommy doesn’t really care about anyone but himself anyway. Sooner than soon he’ll just go back to his normal annoying self. Your dad just wants to help you get better faster so he doesn’t have to pay for a therapist for very long and your mom just felt bad from being away! Eventually this whole incident will blow over and you’ll go back to the forgotten boy who starved himself because he’s so pathetic he wouldn’t even try making a cut! The boy who would let the others beat him and break his bones because he’s too weak! Now with your missing leg you’re twice as clumsy as before! You’re just completely  _ **useless** _! _

 

His breathing picked up slightly but he ignored it. He tried pushing the thoughts out but they kept spinning around in his mind repeatedly. And he started to believe them. It was almost as if he had no control over his mind anymore.

 

Astrid noticed his change in behavior almost right away. He was tense and staring out the window at nothing. Something was going on. She lifted her head up, looked to Tommy, who shrugged and gestured his head in his brother’s direction, silently asked her to talk to him.

 

“Hiccup,” she began. He didn’t look at her, but he appeared to be listening. “Are you okay?” 

 

His facial expression didn’t change. In fact, nothing did. He just kept on looking out the window. “I’m fine.” he grumbled through grit teeth.

 

Astrid was slightly taken aback by his response. Something was definitely wrong. Another issue was he was putting up his walls again. Astrid heard about how Hiccup didn’t tell anyone about what he was going through a few years back, so he suffered in silence. Those walls he had up, the ones she had broken down while they were trapped, were being rebuilt. That was a serious problem. He was going through too much, that if he put up the walls and hid it would start to kill him slowly, from the inside. 

 

Tommy and Astrid looked to each other, both concerned for Hiccup. Tommy knew something was seriously wrong. When Hiccup was hiding something, he would try and cover it up as much as possible. He would sometimes shrug it off with a smile or the classic ‘just thinking’ excuse. This time, he didn’t even try. That meant one of two things. Either he was so lost in thought he just didn’t bother covering it up like usual, or he was actually really upset about something. Tommy and Astrid silently agreed not to push him any farther.

 

Less than ten minutes later, they arrived at the mill. It was just as they had left it. Beams crumpled and lying every which way, the pipes that had been spitting out an enormous stream of water were all dried up and the concrete base of the building was now dry.

 

They remained in the car for another minute, staring at the destroyed mill. Memories of the events that passed only the week before were playing in their minds. Astrid grabbed Hiccup's hand a little tighter as she spotted the hole they had been trapped in. Hiccup didn’t react. He was sucked into his own thoughts as his mind played his memories over and over. He was almost in a flashback like state, except he wasn’t fully re-living the event.

 

Stoick was the first to leave the car, followed by Valka and Tommy. Hiccup took a breath and opened the door on his side of the car. Astrid grabbed his crutches, exiting the left side of the car before making her way around to the right side. She handed Hiccup his crutches and helped him come to a stand. 

 

“Alright,” Stoick said, clasping his hands together and turning to face the rest of the group. “I would like to leave as soon as possible, so, Hiccup,” Hearing his name, Hiccup was pulled from his thoughts and looked up at his father. “Where is your camera?”

 

Hiccup stood there frozen for a second, his head slowly turning to look at the hole that was filled to the top with water. His camera was waterproof, but he couldn't remember what side it was on. And he  _ really  _ didn’t want to go over and look.

 

“It’s… it’s on a ledge. O-on one of the walls.” he stuttered, gesturing to the hole. “I put it on a ledge after we finished…” he stopped, his face falling, not really wanting to remember the goodbyes they had recorded before his parents and Tommy arrived. 

 

Astrid noticed his change in expression and knew instantly what he was talking about. Her face fell as well at the memory. She reached for his hand and held it tightly, but he didn’t respond.

 

“What side did you put it on?” Tommy asked. 

 

Hiccup simply shrugged. “I… I don’t actually remember…” 

 

“I do.” Astrid said, surprising both Hiccup and everyone else. “It’s on…” she began, letting go of Hiccup’s hand and walking towards the hole, she didn’t go too close, as she was still anxious to be back there, but walked over to the correct side and pointed to the approximate place where the ledge should be. “This side. It’s right around here, just over a foot under the surface.”

 

Stoick nodded. “Thank you, Astrid.” He walked towards the hole and looked down the side Astrid pointed out. Sure enough, he could see the camera sitting on the ledge in perfect condition. “Tommy!” he called. “Come here please.”

 

Tommy slowly approached the hole next to his father and kneeled down on the edge. “Do you need me to reach down and get it?” he asked. When Stoick nodded, he pulled the short sleave of his shirt over his shoulder so it wouldn’t get wet and reached into the water. It was freezing. After a moment of searching with his hand, Tommy grabbed hold of the camera and pulled it out.

 

“How is it?” Valka asked, standing a little farther back next to Astrid.

 

Tommy looked over the camera for any damage or cracks where water could have seeped through and damaged it, but thankfully he found nothing. “It’s fine.” he said. “The speaker might be damaged slightly, but we don’t usually watch the videos on the camera anyways so it’s nothing too bad.”

 

Stoick and Tommy stood from their place next to the edge and began walking towards Astrid and Valka. They were about to walk back to the car when Astrid noticed Hiccup wasn’t behind them.

 

“Wait,” she said, turning back around. She didn’t see him in the car so that meant… “Hiccup?” she called, looking around. She looked towards the hole to see Hiccup standing by the edge with his crutches. He was staring straight down into the hole, like he was looking at something on the bottom. 

 

“That’s the beam…” he whispered, just loud enough for them to hear. “That’s what came down on my leg before I…”

 

He was talking about when Stoick an Tommy arrived with Valka and Eric. When Tommy had to move the beam with the van so they could get him and Astrid out… but then the beam came down on his injured leg and he drowned. That was the most traumatizing part for all of them. Hiccup not surfacing when they moved the beam, Stoick retrieving his lifeless body and then giving him CPR is a last effort to save him.

 

Valka approached her son slowly and carefully, trying not to startle him. She placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “Tommy drove the van into the large beam that was trapping you two down there.” she said, squeezing his shoulder. “That beam must’ve come down on you leg once the other one was moved because after it was out of the way you didn’t…” she took a breath, tears stinging her eyes. “You didn’t come back up.”

 

Hiccup’s focus remained on the beam. “How… who got me out?” he asked, his voice surprisingly steady.

 

“I did.” Stoick said, joining them by the edge. “I went down to get you out and you were just… floating there.” He took a shaked breath, remember the event. “I hoped you were just unconscious. But, when I pulled you out… you were… you weren’t breathing your heart wasn’t beating, you were... dead.” 

 

Hiccup looked at his father. He had thought he was simply unconscious from the pain and breathing in all that water, but he had actually  _ died _ . Even when Tommy referenced it, he thought he was just exaggerating like always. Apparently not. His thoughts eventually made their way back to when he and Astrid while they were trapped.

 

He then did something no one expected. He chuckled. “Hey, Astrid.” he called, his voice beginning to waver. “I-I guess I was right.” His laughter was turning into crying as some tears made their way down his face. “I… I did die in a hole...”

 

That’s when Hiccup broke down. It was too much for him in one day. The flashback the night before, the depressing thoughts that were running rampant through his head all day and then coming back to the mill only to find out he actually  _ died _ . The emotions from that day he had bottled up, trying to remain strong for Astrid so they both wouldn’t have a break down while they were stuck down there. Even after he woke up in the hospital, he never bothered to release all those emotions. Now, they broke through his wall like a dam during a flood. It hurt so much to hold it all in that he just couldn’t do it. 

 

He crashed down onto his knees and put a hand over his face. His shoulders shook and silent sobs escaped his lips. “H-how… how did  _ I  _ make it a-a-and… and s-so many others di-idn’t?! Why was I the lucky one?!” he almost yelled. “I actually  _ died  _ but here… here I am! I-it’s-it’s just… i-it’s just not  _ fair _ !” 

 

Stoick and Valka both crouched down next to their son, trying to comfort him as he finally expelled some of the emotions he kept bottled up. Astrid kept her distance for the time being, trying to comfort herself, considering how uncomfortable being there made her and the fact that Hiccup had already broken down. They didn’t need to have to deal with two sobbing teens. Tommy wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they both watched as Hiccup broke down.

 

A few minutes later, Hiccup had exhausted himself and was sniffling and hiccuping quietly. Valka grabbed his crutches and Stoick carried him to the car, just like he used to when he was just a child. Hiccup had his head rested on his father’s shoulder, letting the familiar, comforting scent distract him from his troubles. 

 

Tommy climbed in first, moving to the seat on the far right. They gave Hiccup the middle seat so they could comfort him until he had calmed down completely. Tommy had the camera seated on his lap and was going through the clips from the day of the storm. All there was were the interview clips from the morning of and then a video that Hiccup and Astrid had started filming her project. Then, he found something rather interesting. The videos thumbnail showed Astrid, the water was up to her chin meaning this wasn’t too long before they had arrived, and she appeared to be… crying?

 

He was about to press play on the clip when Astrid tapped his shoulder. He looked over at her, Hiccup had her head on her shoulder, his eyes shut and face tear stained. Astrid had her arm around his shoulders and was using that had to grab Tommy’s attention.

 

“What?” he asked in a hushed tone.

  
Astrid simply shook her head, pleading silently that he didn’t play the video. With that, Tommy turned the camera off and placed it back down on his lap. Astrid didn’t want him to see the clip right now, but he would watch it soon enough. Eventually, he would find out what happened down there. 


	18. Talking

In a few minutes, they had arrived at the church. There was a small crew outside in the parking lot with a table and a few trucks. There was an ambulance parked close to the trees on the left side of the church, the paramedics were loading up a black body bag when they pulled up.

 

Valka spotted the body bag and instantly looked away. She knew it held the burned and mangled body of her best friend. They’d been friends since university. Calum only joined her in storm chasing that year. Now, he was dead. Deep down she still blamed herself for dragging him into it, but she knew that wouldn’t be what he wanted.

 

Only a few minutes before, Hiccup finally managed to calm down. He had his head leaning on Astrid’s shoulder and Astrid’s was resting on top of his with her arm still around his shoulder. He’d been like that for most of the car ride. They could tell he wasn’t sleeping, he just refused to talk to anyone or even acknowledge that he heard them. But, they didn’t pester him about it. Now he just needed to relax.

 

They parked close to the road so they were out of the way of the crews that were packing up their things. Eric spotted them and gave them a small wave, letting them know where he was. Valka, Stoick and Tommy left the car while Astrid stated inside with Hiccup. As they approached the table with the cameras, Eric made his way around and gave Valka a hug, which she returned. 

 

“It’s so good to see you.” she said, smiling into his hug. Sure she saw him just over a week ago but she’d been on the road with him for almost 3 months before. She missed him. 

 

“It’s good to see you too, Val.” Eric replied, pulling back from the hug. “How’ve you been?” he asked.

 

Valka sighed, looking down slightly. “It’s… uh, it’s been tough, lately. But we’re okay.” she finished with a small smile. 

 

Eric nodded , placing a hand on her shoulder. “The camera’s and memory cards are over there.” he said pointing to the table a few feet behind him. “Do you still have some of the data cards Alvin gave you?” he asked. When she nodded, he continued. “Tommy, I thought maybe you and your brother could maybe help us get all the footage we can off of these. We don’t know how much is actually salvageable.”

 

Tommy nodded. “Alright, I’ll take a look.”

 

He and Valka walked over to the table, Tommy began looking for damage that could prevent them from pulling any of the photos and videos off the cards while Valka removed the cards from the remaining cameras, trying not to damage them more than they possibly were.

 

Stoick walked over to Eric and placed a hand on his shoulder. “How’ve you been?” he asked. “You keeping your job as a stormchaser?” 

 

Eric nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m probably gonna do a little less field work, though. Is Val quitting?” he asked.

 

Stoick nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Like you she wants almost nothing to do with field work. She was talking about trying for a job at the weather station.” he replied. 

 

“How’s Hiccup been doing?” he asked. “Hopefuly better than last time I saw him.” he joked with a light chuckle.

 

“He’s been better.” Stoick admitted. “He’s still dealing with the loss of his leg and he’s had a flashback, but he’s getting there.”

 

“Is he back at home?” he asked.

 

Stoick shook his head. “No. He’s in the car still.” he said gestured behind them at the vehicle. “We just stopped at the old paper mill on Garner to grab his camera. He didn’t do too well so Astrid’s in there keeping him company.” 

 

Eric nodded. “I’m gonna go say ‘hi’ real quick. Be back in a minute.”

 

Stoick nodded, walking towards the table to see if Tommy and Valka needed any help with the cameras, even though he had no idea what to do with them.

 

Eric made his way to the car, which was still turned on so the air conditioning was running. He walked up the the right side and saw Hiccup and Astrid sitting next to each other. Hiccup appeared to be asleep at the moment but Astrid was awake. He knocked on the window, giving Astrid a small wave before she rolled down the window.

 

“Hey.” he greeted.

 

Astrid gave him a small smile. “Hi, Eric.” she replied. “How are you?” 

 

“Good,” he nodded. “I’m good. Heading back home in a few days. Have you been doing okay?” 

 

“I’m okay. It’s him that’s been having trouble.” she said, tilting her head towards Hiccup who was still laying his head on her shoulder. This time his eyes were open.

 

He sat up slowly, Astrid helping him and not removing her arm from his shoulder. He sat up, sighing and rubbing the dried tears from his eyes with the heel of his hand. “Hey, Eric.” he greeted. His voice was quiet, like he just woke up from sleeping.

 

“He’s awake!” Eric joked, trying to keep the mood as light as possible. “You’re looking alot better than the last time I saw you. How’ve you been?” 

 

Hiccup shrugged. “I… I’ve been better.” he admitted. Astrid rubbed his arm with her hand in comfort and he leaned closer to her.

 

Eric nodded. “It’s rough at first. My uncle is missing a leg as well. Took him a while to adjust.”

 

Hiccup nodded slowly. He completely understood. He expected to be adjusted to it by now. It’s been over a week already. But, he knew it would take time, he knew that eventually he would be over it and he could return to his normal life. He just wished it would happen faster so he could stop feeling so weak and useless.

 

“How’d he lose it?” Astrid asked, curious.

 

“He was in the military.” Eric answered. “A bomb went off right next to him when he was out on patrol. They had to amputate his right leg all the way up to his mid-thigh.”

 

_ See?  _ Hiccup’s mind spat at him.  _ There are people that have it worse than you.You’re so annoying, dragging everyone into you own stupid issues. You’re so weak and pathetic! Get over it! _

 

“My uncle went to a support group, actually. He started going a few weeks after the incident. It really helped him out. There should be one near Berk. Maybe you could give one a shot.” Eric suggested. 

 

Astrid turned to Hiccup. “That sounds like a good idea.” she pointed out.

 

Hiccup shrugged. “We’ll see.”

 

Eric smiled. “It get’s better.” he reassured. “See ya!”

 

“Bye, Eric.” Astrid said, giving him a small wave.

 

“Bye.” Hiccup muttered quietly, leaning back against the seat and closing his eyes.

 

Astrid rubbed his arm again. “You tired?” she asked.

 

He nodded slightly, but didn’t move anymore. He wanted to go home and lay in his bed with all the lights off for the rest of his life. But at the same time, he wanted to just stay in here with Astrid. No matter what thoughts were plaguing his mind, he found her presence comforting. 

 

Astrid looked out the window towards the table to see them gathering all their cards and cameras. “They’re packing up now. We’ll be home soon.” she said.

 

Hiccup nodded and hummed in understanding before leaning his head back on her shoulder. “Thank you.” he said quietly. 

 

She looked at him, puzzled. “For what?”

 

“For... “ he sighed, nuzzling his head against her shoulder. “For everything. For visiting me everyday. For comforting me. For caring.” 

 

Astrid smiled, holding him tighter. She leaned over and kissed the top of his head, letting her lips linger for a moment before she rested her head on his once more. “You’re very welcome.” she replied. 

 

After a moment of silence, Stoick, Valka and Tommy arrived back in the car. Tommy had a ziplock bag of the camera cards and Valka had Calums old camera. The ziplock bag had the Titus camera footage and Calums camera card was still in the camera where they wouldn’t lose it.

 

“Hey dude.” Tommy said, looking at his brother who was still leaning on Astrid’s shoulder. “How you doing?”

 

Hiccup took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m okay.” he said tiredly.

 

Tommy gave him a small smile and rubbed his shoulder before looking back at the camera cards in the bag. “We got all the footage.” he said. “None of the cards were too damaged. Do you wanna help me get the footage organized?”

 

Hiccup shook his head. “I..  I really don’t want to have to watch…  _ that _ , yet… sorry.”

 

Tommy shrugged it off. “It’s fine! Nothing I can’t handle.” he smirked, confidently. Hiccup rolled his eyes and Tommy shoved him lightly. “I saw that.” he muttered.

 

**…**

 

When they arrived home, Tommy got to work on the cards and Stoick went to start dinner since it was almost six. Valka and Astrid helped Hiccup get upstairs since he was too tired to use his crutches. He was drained after he broke down earlier and had no energy to stand or support his own weight. Once they got him into bed, Valka went back downstairs to help Stoick with dinner and Astrid stayed with him.

 

“Astrid, did you text your uncle about staying over for dinner?” Valka asked, placing Hiccup down on the bed.

 

Astrid nodded. “He’s fine with it.” she said, sitting down next to Hiccup on the bed.

 

Valka smiled and left the room. “We’ll call you when dinner’s ready!” she called before walking down the stairs.

 

“Okay.” Astrid replied. 

 

Hiccup laid down on the bed and Astrid soon joined him. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling while she lay on her side, facing him. For the longest time they just lay there, thinking. Astrid played with Hiccup’s hair as he relaxed.

 

“How are you feeling now?” Astrid asked, still playing with his hair.

 

Hiccup shrugged. “I… I don’t know. Not as bad as earlier, I guess. But…”

 

“Still not the greatest.” Astrid finished.

 

He nodded. “Exactly.” Hiccup agreed. “I am getting sick of people asking me how I am, though.” he joked, expression still remaining blank.

 

Astrid smiled. “That’s just because we care about you.” she said, ceasing playing with his hair and propping herself up with one arm so she could see his face better. Her smile eventually fell, thinking of the night before. “Hiccup, I wanted to say I’m sorry-”

 

“Don’t.” he said rather quickly, starting her. “You’ve already apologised countless times. It was my idea to help you with your project so it’s not your fault-”

 

“No, not that.” Astrid intervened. She looked downwards to avoid looking at him. “I meant for last night.”

 

Now Hiccup was facing her. He gave her a puzzled look and propped himself up as well. “What are you talking about?”

 

Astrid sighed. “I caused your flashback last night.” she blurted out, not looking him in the eye. “I was sitting next to you, trying to get you to talk about… I don’t even remember, whatever was bugging you and the next thing I know you’re shaking and choking and screaming in pain and… oh gods it was  _ all my fault! _ ”

 

Her eyes began to sting with tears and she covered her mouth with her hand, suppressing a sob. She’s a Hofferson! She’s not supposed to cry like this! Yet, since the storm, she’s showing more emotion than she showed in a long time. Hiccup shifted his position so he was more stable on his arm and placed his free hand on her cheek.

 

“Astrid,” he began, lifting her face to their eyes met. “It’s in no way your fault. I’ll be prone to flashbacks for quite a while, anything could trigger them. You didn’t know that… whatever it was you said, could cause a flashback.”

 

She sniffled slightly. “But…” she protested.

 

“No ‘but’s!” he said. “It’s not your fault in any way, shape or form. Okay?” he asked, waiting for her to reply and hopefully calm down.

 

Astrid slowly nodded, but was still clearly upset. She tried to suppress her sobs but they choked out anyways. A few tears began to spill down her cheeks and Hiccup gently wiped them away. It was like the roles had switched. Astrid had spent most of her time comforting Hiccup after the storm had passed, now he was comforting her.

 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, stroking her cheek. She tried to answer, but when she tried to speak another sob choked out. “Is it about earlier today?” he asked quietly.

 

When she nodded, he pulled her into a tight hug he buried his head in her shoulder while she did the same. She calmed down not too long after, having released the emotions she’d held in from their trip back to the mill. She was staying strong for him. It was hard, but she managed, until now that is. 

 

“I… it was h-hard. Being back th-there…” she explained one she’d calmed down a bit. “I remember standing next to Valka… a-after they got me out and… and you didn’t come back u-up!” 

 

Hiccup rubbed circles in her back, trying to calm her. “I-I know.” he said, quietly. 

 

“I was  _ so  _ scared…” she admitted, snuggling closer to him for comfort.

 

Hiccup nodded in understanding. “I was too. It… it was weird. I passed out under the water and… all I could think was you.” Astrid was calming down now, listening to what he had to say. “I was scared… after the beam fell on my leg, because I-I didn’t know what had happened to you. And then I was just floating in black. I saw… nothing, I felt nothing and then… then I started choking and Dad was yelling at me to breathe and…”

 

Astrid pulled back slightly and looked him in the eyes. His gorgeous green eyes were unfocused as the memories flooded through his head. “And?” she asked, gently urging him to continue.

 

His eyes met hers for a split second before looking away again. “At first all I felt was… pain. My chest ached a-and so did my head and my leg and… then it was you. I didn’t even fully register what had happened or… or what was happening I just needed to know if you were okay.”

 

His eyes welled up a little at the memory. He remembered every single detail from the moment he woke up. The pressure on his chest, his father  _ screaming  _ for him to breathe. He remembered how hazy everything was, the pain in his chest as he choked up the water he had breathed, his vision spinning along with his head, the stabbing and throbbing pain in his leg. And the first thought that went through his head was Astrid. He was terrified that the same thing had happened to her. That something had fallen on her as well or that she was trapped under the debris and drowning. 

 

Meanwhile, Astrid simply stared at him. Even though he had been severely injured and then  _ died  _ from  _ drowning _ , he still thought of her. Sure, they had admitted their feelings when they were trapped, but they never actually talked about any of it. And now he was saying that he only thought of her during that life and death situation, it was shocking.

 

“I… I don’t know what I’d do if I made it and you didn’t…” Hiccup said after a moment of silence, surprising both Astrid and himself with how steady his voice was. 

 

A thought occurred to Astrid, one that she’d had earlier but pushed away in the moment. Now she understood. “That’s what’s been bothering you, isn’t it?” she asked, calmly, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. “The guilt?” He simply nodded, his gaze still not meeting her eyes. After a moment, she spoke up again. “It would help to get it off your chest, Hiccup. You can’t hold all this in forever. It’ll start to kill you from the inside unless you tell someone what’s going on.” 

 

“I-I know.” he admitted. “Just… just not right now. Please?” he pleased quietly, not wanting to share the thoughts running through his head.

 

Astrid nodded in understanding. “Alright.” she said. “I’ll be here when you need me,” She placed a comforting hand in his cheek and he nuzzled into her touch. “okay?” 

 

Hiccup nodded against her hand and lay back down on the bed, needing to just relax for a while. Astrid was about to join him when Valka called them for dinner from the kitchen. Astrud climbed out of bed and turned back to Hiccup.

 

“Do you want to eat downstairs?” she asked.

 

Hiccup shook his head. “Not really… plus I’ve got a phantom itch right now so I’ll just stay here.” he said, looking down to his lack of left leg.

 

Astrid followed his gaze. “Do you need anything for it?” she asked, slightly concerned.

 

Yet again, he shook his head. “No. It’s just an itch. It’ll pass.” he stated.

  
Nodding, Astrid headed to the door and walked downstairs to get them both some dinner, leaving Hiccup alone with his thoughts yet again.


	19. What happened down there...

Tommy sat in his room on his computer, waiting for the files from Hiccup’s camera to finish converting. He’d just finished dinner downstairs with his mom and dad, upset that Hiccup didn’t join them. Even though he wasn’t one to show or share many emotions (just like his father), he cared for his older brother. 

 

The video files from the day of the storm finished converting onto the computer with minimal issues, thankfully, so Tommy got to work on organizing them. He had to separate the clips from Astrid’s project and the time capsule interviews, which didn’t seem to be too difficult because it seemed like Astrid and Hiccup only got around to filming one clip for her project before they were trapped. Once he separated the clips, he clicked on the video they had started filming and opened it.

 

_ The camera started recording, facing the floor before being raised up and focused on Astrid, who was standing inside the factory, just in front of the hole. She sighed and slung her hair over her shoulder. _

 

_ “Do I look okay?” she asked, fiddling with her red sweater. _

 

_ “Yeah,” Hiccup replied from behind the camera. “Beautiful.” There was a pause. “I wasn’t saying… I-I was, like, for the… I don’t know. I-I’m rolling here…” _

 

Tommy shook his head, chuckling at his brother’s nervousness around his crush. He smirked as well when he saw Astrid’s cheeks turn light pink.

 

_ “If we weren’t in a hurry, I’d punch you.” she said, raising her fist. “But, thanks.” _

 

_ “Ready?” Hiccup asked. _

 

_ Astrid nodded. Before they could start, Hiccup’s phone rang. _

 

_ “Can you hold this?” Hiccup asked, the camera shifted towards thr floor again before being turned and lifted onto Astrid’s shoulder so it focused on Hiccup. Hiccup pulled his phone out of his back pocket and looked at the ID. “It’s my dad.” _

 

_ “Are you going to answer it?” Astrid asked from behind the camera. _

 

_ Hiccup shook his head. “No, are you kidding? I missed the whole ceremony.” _

 

_ Seconds later, Hiccup’s phone rang once more and he picked it up. “Tommy?” he answered. _

 

Tommy leaned back in his chair, biting the nail of his thumb. He’d heard half of this conversation back at the high school, now he was going to find out what had happened on the other end.

 

_ “Dad? Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” _

 

_ “Dad, Tommy can handle all the filming and stuff. It’s not, like, a problem.” _

 

Tommy smirked. Sure, it wasn’t easy by himself but he was glad his brother had some confidence in him after all. 

 

_ “Safe? Yeah, I’m at the old paper mill.” _

 

_ “Yeah.” _

 

_ “Dad?” _

 

_ “Dad?” _

 

“ _ What happened?” Astrid asked. The camera looked to the floor once more before being lifted back up to focus on Astrid. _

 

_ “I don’t know. It just cut out.” Hiccup responded. _

 

_ There was a rumble of thunder, followed by the pitter-patter of rain on the roof.  _

 

_ “Maybe we should go.” Astrid suggested.  _

 

_ “Yeah,” Hiccup agreed. _

 

_ There was a large gust of wind, creaking the building that caused them both to stop. The whistling grew stronger, so did the creaking. The building started shaking slightly as the camera focused on a loose metal sheet on the wall of the factory.  _

 

_ “What is that?” Astrid asked. _

 

_ Suddenly, the roof and walls were sucked away. The twister came into view and it ripped apart the building around them. Then the building started to cave.   _

 

_ “Get down!” Hiccup screamed, throwing himself forward, camera still in hand.  _

_ In the corner of the screen Astrid was seen being thrown into the hole in one direction, before the camera showed Hiccup falling in the other. The camera quickly showed the factory collapsing over them, much of the debris raining it before a beam crashed in and landed on Hiccup’s left leg and he screamed. The recording ended mid-scream as the camera hit the floor and stopped recording. _

 

Tommy stared at the last frame on the screen. It was mostly black, a few specs of white where the light from outside seeped through the ‘roof’. He was slightly pleased that the camera had done it’s job and stopped recording, not wanting to witness the pain and horror that was soon to come.

 

Hiccup and Tommy had received high quality cameras as a present a few years back. They were waterproof, had very good casing to protect the lenses from shattering and recorded in excelent quality. One thing that Tommy hadn’t liked at first was a sensor that detected harsh hits to the camera and would automatically stop recording. It had always irritated him because a few times he would drop the camera, then catch it, but the force of his hand catching the camera would stop whatever recording he was working on. Now, he was actually thankful for it.

 

Tommy stared at the screen again, registering what he had just witnessed. At the school, they’d had a warning. There were sirens next to the school so they could get to shelter in advanced. There were either no sirens near the factory anymore (since it’s abandoned now and there are no buildings nearby) or they weren’t maintained and stopped functioning all together. Cell service was cutting in and out as well, so even though their Dad tried to warn them nothing could get through. Hiccup and Astrid had no warning whatsoever. 

 

With a deep breath, Tommy clicked on the next clip, the one from earlier that Astrid didn't want him to play. Sure he didn’t play it before because she asked him not to, but she wasn’t there at the moment and his curiosity was getting the better of him. So he clicked on the file and told it to open.

 

_ The camera began recording, showing Astrid, water up to her chin and tears in her eyes. “O-okay. Go.” Hiccup said shakily from behind the camera. _

 

_ Astrid took a shaky breath and began. “U-Uncle Finn… I just wanna thank you for everything.” _

 

Tommy stopped the video there. It was exactly what he thought it was. They’d attempted escape and failed. The water just kept rising. They’d recorded their goodbyes. They’d actually thought they were going to die down there. 

 

He pushed himself out of his seat and walked out of his room down to the kitchen where his parents were washing the dishes. Their attention turned to him when he reached the bottom step, holding the railing and waiting patiently. 

 

“Yes, Tommy?” Valka asked, drying one of the pots that couldn’t be cleaned in the dishwasher.

 

“I, uh…” he cleared his throat and continued. “I found something on Hiccup’s camera.” he blurted out. 

 

Both Stoick and Valka stopped and looked at him, their eyes filled with confusion. It was a topic that held great interest to them, considering it likely held footage of what had happened to their eldest son after the first tornado struck Berk.

 

“What did you find, son?” Stoick asked, drying his hands with a towel.

 

Tommy took a breath, recalling the video he’d just watched. “I found a clip they were about to start for Astrid’s project, that was when you called Hiccup and when…  _ it  _ happened…”

 

“By ‘it’ you mean…” Valka began.

 

Tommy nodded. “The camera filmed most of it up until they got trapped in the hole.” he stated. “But after that, I… I found something else you guys might wanna see. But, I think we should wait until Astrid’s uncle Finn get’s here.”

 

As if on cue, there was a knock at the front door, Stoick called for them to enter, placing the towel on the counter and walking towards the door just as Finn Hofferson walked in. 

 

“Good evening.” he greeted kindly, shutting the door behind him. “I was heading into town to grab a few groceries so I stopped in to see if Astrid was ready to head home.” he said, smiling to Stoick who had come to greet him. “If she would like to stay here a little longer I can pick her up on my way back. I know how much she cares for Hiccup.”

 

Stoick smiled and nodded in agreement. “She sure does. Been looking out for him since it happened.” He reached his arm towards the man, which he took and shook. “How’ve you been, Finn?” he asked.

 

Finn nodded. “Good.” he replied. “Everything is going great with the repairs around town. Everything should be repaired in mid September at the latest. The school should be finished by then.”

 

Finn was in charge of directing construction around Berk. He would set up when roads would be blocked off, where alternate roots should be placed and what should be done when. He’d been working hard on organizing the order of the rebuilding of Berk since the tornadoes left an enormous amount of destruction in their wake. It had taken time but everything was on track and underway. Pretty soon, Berk would be back on it’s feet.

 

“Excellent.” Stoick responded with a small smile. He clasped his hands together. “Now, Astrid is upstairs with Hiccup at the moment. He’s had a rough day.” he stated, sighing at the earlier events of that day. “I don’t think she’ll mind waiting a little longer. Besides, Tommy found something he thinks we should see.”

 

Finn looked over at the young Haddock who was standing by the stairs with his mother. “And what might that be?” he asked, kindly and curiously.

 

“Well,” Tommy began, trying to word it correctly. “We went back to the paper mill today to get Hiccup’s camera and I was going over the footage from  _ that  _ day and I found something… well, i-it’s hard to explain.” he attempted to explain. He didn’t want to just come out and say ‘I found a video of Hiccup and Astrid saying goodbye to all of us because they thought they were going to drown’ straight to their faces. “It would be better of I just showed you.”

 

Finn nodded. “Alright.” he said, removing his shoes and placing them neatly on the mat by the door. “Let’s take a look then.”

 

Tommy lead the four adults up into his room, quietly apologising for the mess. He walked over to the computer where the monitor had shut off due to inactivity and turned it back on. The video had remained where he had paused it, causing the adults to gasp almost simultaneously. Astrid had told Finn she had been trapped under the factory that day, but unlike the Haddocks, he never witnessed it. And there she was, on the screen, water up to her chin and tears welling in her eyes. It was… shocking, to say the least. Mainly for Finn.

 

Astrid had always been one to avoid showing many emotions. She would show them just very limitedly. She was strong like that. She showed even less after her parents died unless you were someone she was close with. Sometimes she wouldn’t even share them with Finn, that was until the events of the week before. Hiccup sharing his past troubles with her made her realize that there are some things she shouldn’t avoid sharing with the people she cares about. This, in a way, was some proof. 

 

“What is this?” Stoick whispered quietly, trying to figure out what was happening in the video and why Tommy wanted them to see it. Tommy didn’t reply. He simply took the video back to the beginning and pressed play.

 

_ The camera began recording, showing Astrid, water up to her chin and tears in her eyes. “O-okay. Go.” Hiccup said shakily from behind the camera. _

 

_ Astrid took a shaky breath and began. “U-Uncle Finn… I just wanna thank you for everything.”  _

 

“Oh my gods…” Valka whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth. Realization struck them hard. They now knew  _ exactly  _ what this video was.

 

_ “I was gonna come down the stairs this morning to say goodbye ...but when I came you were already gone. You should know I'm not alone. H-Hiccup's here. He's been really sweet. So it's kind of o-okay. I love you so much.”  _

 

Finn had a few tears in his eyes as Astrid finished. His little girl thought she was going to die that day without saying goodbye to him. He’d left a little earlier for work that morning, now he wished he didn’t. It could have been the last time they ever saw each other. He calmed down as he remembered ahe was in the room just down the hall.

 

_ The camera was then moved forward and turned around to face Hiccup. _

 

_ “Guess what? I spent the last week filming time capsules about people's futures...a-and now it looks like I don't have one.” _

 

Tommy rolled his eyes at his brother. He was always cracking jokes at the wrong time. Sure, they are usually ignored in the moment but Tommy always found them amusing.

 

_ “So...if there's no future...w-we should talk about t-the past.” Hiccup nodded his head, agreeing with himself. The water had gotten higher and almost reached his chin. Um… some bad shit happened along the way. Y-you know, like it does to everybody, I guess. And… a-and I-I couldn’t keep going, Dad. I blamed you. I really gave you shit, and I-I wish I hadn't. So wish I hadn't. No point in wishing now?” _

 

Stoick rubbed his eyes with his hands before gazing back at the screen. He wished he could have gotten there sooner. Not just to stop Hiccup from almost drowning and so the two young teens didn’t have to go through the heartbreaking event of saying goodbye to their families because they believed they were going to die. Hearing his son’s voice drowning in guilt for something that was in no way his fault was heartbreaking. He wished he could have comforted his son and apologised for everything that had happened, but all he could do was watch.

 

Valka placed a hand on his arm comfortingly, still not removing her eyes from the screen. She knew what her son was talking about, the events from a few years ago. Even though she wasn’t there at the time, she knew what a hard hit their father/son relationship had taken. 

 

_ “Um… what do I wanna say? Um… Go easy on Tommy. H-he's gonna tell you that this is all his fault. This was his idea. B-but it wasn't. I-it's just Tommy. His attention-seeking behavior. My idea… m-my fault. T-Tommy, you should be the person you always were, dude, because y-you're awesome. You're awesome and I'm proud of you...and just live every day like it's your last. B-because, shit, someday i-it will be. And for once, I know what I'm talking about.” _

 

Tommy smiled sadly at the screen. He still did blame himself for what had happened, but he was happy to know that his brother still thought of him the same way he always has, even during what he thought would be his final moments.

 

_ “M-mom, I-I really miss you, when you’re away. A-and I wish I would have told you before you left, b-but I didn’t. I-I love you. I-I’m sorry this will be the first time you s-see me in months. But j-just know that I love you.”  _

 

Valka choked back a sob at the thought. She would rather go through the events of the previous week a million times then come home to see this video and find out her eldest son was dead. She remembered the morning she left, Stoick and Tommy had said goodbye to her before she left. Hiccup, however, had an argument with Stoick the night before and left early in the morning on his bike, from which he didn’t make it back in time to say goodbye. If she came back to see this, it would have broken her.

 

_ “And, Dad… Dad, I love y-you. I really love you and I-I'm sorry. Okay, I'm sorry. Okay? Sorry…” _

 

_ The camera pointed itself back down at the water before it shut off, ending the recording. _

 

The room was silent except for the occasional shaky breath and sniffle. They’d just witnessed their children (or sibling, in Tommy’s case) record a message for them when they thought they were going to die. That was something they wished no parent had to witness because even though their children were alive and safe, it was heartbreaking. No one spoke for a good two minutes before Stoick cleared his throat. 

 

“I… uh,” he started. “I think you should be going now, Finn. I think you and Astrid would like some time to talk.”

 

Finn nodded and stood, visions of what he had just seen running through his mind. “Yes, that is a good idea.” he agreed, letting out a breath and running a hand over his eyes. “Where is she again?”  he asked.

 

“Hiccup’s room. End of the hall.” Valka said, gesturing in the direction of her elder son’s room.

 

Finn nodded,making his way down the hall and took it all in. He took a deep breath before making his way to the door. He hadn’t seen Astrid like that since her parents died, and it was both a good and a bad thing. She didn’t keep her emotions hidden but the situation was heartbreaking. He reached the door, knocking quietly.

 

“Astrid?” he asked quietly. He opened the door and smiled at the scene before him. 

 

Astrid was sitting up against the headboard, Hiccup on her left with his head on her shoulder and arm draped loosely around her middle. Astrid had both her arms wrapped comfortingly around him, holding him close. Finn smiled and called for Stoick and Valka to come see as well, they each had the same reaction as Finn.   

 

“If they don’t start going out soon, I’m setting up an arranged marriage.” Stoick said, not taking his eyes off the couple and Valka slapped his arm with the back of her hand.

  
Finn nodded. “Alright.” he agreed. Valka placed a hand over her eyes and sighed, shaking her head.


	20. The Approaching Storm

Astrid and Finn arrived home later that night after Finn had picked her up her up from the Haddocks. He’d left after he arrived the first time to pick up his groceries before returning for Astrid since she had fallen asleep. She hadn’t been sleeping very much over the past week and a bit so he left her to rest in peace.  

 

Astrid walked through the front door, carrying the grocery bins into the kitchen and then helping her uncle put them away. It was silent as they unloaded the groceries until Astrid put the last box away in a cupboard. She was about to head up to her room when Finn spoke up.

 

“So,” he began. “How was Hiccup?”

 

Astrid stopped at the base of the stairs, her hand on the railing and right foot on the bottom step. “He’s okay, I guess.” she said, thinking over the events that passed earlier that day. “He… he’s been better.” she admitted.

 

Finn nodded, pulling a chair out from the kitchen table and sitting down. “I can imagine it will take time to recover from what you both experienced down there.” he sighed, leaning against the table. 

 

Astrid nodded, still not moving from her place at the bottom of the stairs. “He has it much worse than me.” she mumbled quietly, just loud enough for Finn to hear her.

 

“I wanted to tell you,” Finn began, drawing Astrid’s attention towards him. “I saw the video you two had recorded.  When you were trapped over at the paper mill.”

 

This caught Astrid's attention.  _ How did he see it- Tommy. Tommy must have shown them.  _ She mentally slapped herself for not doing more to prevent Tommy, or anyone for that matter, from watching the video. She could have asked for the camera and deleted it or at least told him not to show anyone no matter what. But, she didn’t. 

 

“Y-you did?” she said hesitantly and turned to face her uncle. He made eye contact with her from the moment she turned around, their blue eyes locked together.

 

Finn nodded. “Yes. And I wanted to say I’m sorry.” 

 

Astrid tilted her head ever so slightly and squinted her eyes in confusion. “What for?” she asked curiously.

 

“For leaving early that morning.” he said, taking a deep breath. “For not staying to say goodbye before you left for school. I had no reason to leave that early, either, I just did.” He ran a hand through his graying hair and broke eye contact, suddenly finding the wood knots in the table interesting. “The first thing I could think when I was watching that video was regret for leaving early for work that morning. Because if you… if you didn’t make it…”

 

He stopped when Astrid (who had been slowly making her way towards her uncle) wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in his shoulder. He was surprised at first but soon returned the embrace. They remained in eachothers arms for a few moments before pulling apart.

 

“I’m sorry you had to watch the video, Uncle Finn.” Astrid apologise, brushing some blonde frizz away from her face.

 

Finn shook his head. “No, it’s alright.” he said. A small smile crossed his face. “What time do you want me to drop you off tomorrow?” 

 

Astrid raised an eyebrow. “Drop me off where?” 

 

“At the Haddock’s.” he states. Astrid simply stared at him. “I assume you’ll want to visit Hiccup tomorrow. Especially since there’s a thunderstorm in the forecast.”

 

Astrid blushed slightly at the realization that her uncle knew, or at least had a clue about her feelings for Hiccup. “Uh… maybe around ten or ten-thirty?” she suggested. “Do the Haddock’s know I’m even going over?” 

 

Finn nodded. “Yes. I was talking to Hiccup’s parents before I picked you up. They were actually expecting you.”

 

“W-what… why?” she asked, confused.

 

“Are you seriously asking?” he chuckled, shaking his head. “You’ve been visiting him every single day he was in the hospital.”

 

Astrid turned her blue eyes to the floor. She really didn’t think about it very much until now. She’d visit Hiccup at the hospital when visiting hours opened and wouldn’t leave until visiting hours ended, which was nearly twelve hours a day. And then she arrived at the his house before noon and didn’t leave until just past eleven o’clock at night. She realized that since the storms she’s spent almost all of her time at his side. She knew why. Not because she blamed herself for what had happened since he’d already told her it was in no way her fault, but because she cared. She always had. Even when their friend group drifted apart, she would keep an eye on him when she could. And yet, she never truly acknowledged how much she truly cared for him, liked him, maybe even loved him, until now.

 

Her face was slightly rosey in the cheeks when she finally spoke up again. “Oh,” she stated in a quieter tone. “Well, I guess I’m off to bed, then.” 

 

Leaning over, Astrid gave her uncle another hug, which he returned and they each said goodnight to the other. Astrid’s thoughts from the moment before were pushed back. There was something else that was plaguing her mind. Worry. And it had something to do with the weather forecast for the next day.

 

**…**

 

Hiccup woke up surprisingly early the next morning, or as early as he could when he didn’t have to be up for school. It was only just past nine in the morning but he could already hear his family downstairs preparing breakfast together. That was something he had missed. They hadn’t eaten together like a family in too long. They used to do it everyday.

 

Hiccup sat up, groaning as his stiff left leg moved to help balance him. He reached down to his left leg to scratch an itch on it when his hand met the bed sheets. He felt like an idiot to have tried to touch a leg that wasn’t even there. He just had to suck it up and get used to it, which was taking longer than he would have hoped. He wished that he was used to his missing limb, or even better, that he was  _ dead _ . 

 

He was snapped back to reality at that thought, panicking that he would even  _ think _ of something like that. He hadn’t had a thought like that for  _ years _ . He was honestly scared that he would start to believe these thoughts. He remembered how horrible he felt all those years ago he was depressed and he never wanted to feel like that again. He took a deep breath and shook his head as though that would shake the thoughts from his mind.  _ I can’t go through that again. I just can’t… _

 

Hiccup swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for his crutches before lifting himself up to a stand before heading towards the stairs. He stared at the floor, counting the knots in the wood to distract him from his thoughts as he descended the stairs.

 

“He’s finally awake!” Stoick joked as Hiccup made his way into the kitchen. “You’re up early.” 

 

“Not really. I never sleep in very late.” he said, sitting down at the table and leaning his crutches against it. “Tommy’s the one who usually sleeps in until past noon.”

 

“Yeah well I haven’t been able to do that for two whole weeks so  _ excuse _ me if it’s a habit to wake up early.” Tommy called from the living room where he was watching TV, like he usually did on a weekend or day off from school. He hadn’t had the time to relax much the past week so he decided to enjoy whatever free time he had.

 

Stoick set a plate of waffles and berries on the table before taking the seat across from Hiccup. Valka sat down next her son and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. He looked up at her and she smiled before looking towards Tommy who was still on the couch in the living room. 

 

“Tommy,” she called. “come have your breakfast.” When he didn’t reply, she called again. “Tommy!”

 

Tommy still didn’t look away from the screen. “Yeah, yeah, fine…” he trailed off, waving a hand in his mother’s direction and remaining seated on the couch.

 

Stoick rolled his eyes. “I swear, sometimes you boys just…” he sighed, shaking his head. Before looking back to Hiccup. “How are you feeling, son?” he asked.

 

Hiccup kept his eyes on the table, counting the knots just as he did with the flooring earlier. He shrugged. “I… I’m okay, I guess.” he replied slowly, not sounding too sure of himself.

 

Stoick nodded, looking to Valka who nodded. He ran a hand through his hair and looked back towards his oldest son. “Hiccup,” he began, clearing his throat. “I… last night your brother was retrieving the files from your camera and… he found something tha-that we needed to see.”

 

Hiccup sat frozen in his seat, eyes remaining glued to the table, lost in thought.  _ They didn’t… they didn’t see  _ that _ video, did they…? Oh gods… _

 

Stoick paused, looking to Valka again, who gave him another nod, telling him to continue. “We saw... we saw a video of you and Astrid. W-when you were trapped.” Stoick mentally slapped himself to spit it out and stop stuttering. He  _ never  _ stuttered. Well, almost never. “You had recorded your goodbyes to us. And we watched them even though you two were safe and sound in the next room and…” he took another breath. “What I want to say is I’m sorry, son. For what happened that day.”

 

Hiccup looked up at his father but not making eye contact. “Dad, it’s fine… I was just being stupid that morning it’s-”

 

“This isn’t about our argument, Hiccup.” Stoick interrupted. “Although I am sorry for that as well. That was both our faults.” he said. He took another breath, still not meeting Hiccup’s eyes. “I’m sorry for taking so long.” he said in a hushed tone. 

 

Hiccup tilted his head to the side slightly in confusion. “W-what are… what do you mean?” he asked, quietly.

 

“I’m sorry it took so long for me to get to you. When you and Astrid were trapped.” he said. “I left the school right after the phone went dead but it still took too long. I’m sorry, son.” Stoick had a few tears in his eyes, but they didn’t spill. The guilt was piling up. “I wish that we could have gotten there sooner, then maybe, just  _ maybe _ they could’ve… they could have saved your leg.” He ran a hand over his face, sighing deeply. “It’s my fault. Oh, son, I’m so sorry.”

 

Hiccup stood up from the table, his hands supporting him instead of reaching for his crutches. Valka had her arms ready to either stop him from falling or to hand him his crutches but she needed to do neither. Hiccup, using the table for support, walked around the edge of their kitchen table towards his father. Once he was standing in front of him, he leaned forwards, one of his hands still on the table for balance so he didn’t fall forwards and wrapped it around his father's neck in a hug, his other arm soon doing the same. 

 

Stoick quickly returned the hug, one arm wrapped around his sons shoulders and one hand on his back, rubbing it slowly. Hiccup’s foot was almost off the ground and he had almost all his weight leaning against his father's chest so Stoick lifted the boy up so he was sitting on his lap. They remained that way for a few moments longer, Valka smiling sweetly at them from her seat at the other end of the table.

 

“It’s not your fault, Dad.” Hiccup muttered into his father's shoulder, finding the comfort in his father's arms he always found as a child. He missed the those times, when they were closer when they have been lately. He hoped they would get that connection back again.

 

Stoick held Hiccup closer, careful not to hurt him as his hugs were usually bone crushingly tight. He knew Hiccup was a forgiving person, yet he was nervous about admitting that it was partially responsible for the loss of his leg. Eventually, he pulled back from their embrace, Hiccup remaining seated on his father’s leg.

 

“How are you feeling this morning, son?” Stoick asked, raising Hiccup’s chin with his hand to look him in the eyes. 

 

Hiccup shrugged slightly. “I… don’t know. I’m okay, I guess. Better than yesterday.” he said. The last part wasn’t entirely true. He felt pretty much the same as yesterday, minus the shock of visiting the place he  _ died  _ in. He felt unmotivated, tired even though he had a full night of sleep. He just wanted to lay in bed and do nothing for the rest of his life. Of course he wouldn’t admit it to anyone. 

 

Stoick nodded, rubbing Hiccup’s back with his hand. “Well,” he said. “You had an eventful day yesterday. Take it easy for a while, alright?” he asked. Hiccup nodded and Stoick lifted him off his leg and set him down on the ground, making sure Hiccup had a grip on the table before letting go. 

 

When Hiccup sat down, Valka and Stoick began to share more of the past events from while she was away. Tommy came to the table and grabbed a few berries before heading back to his spot on the couch. Hiccup ate a few berries before saying he was tired and went back upstairs to his room. He was a little tired, but he mostly just wanted to lay in his bed by himself and try to forget the world. 

 

He just lay there, staring at the ceiling. The dark thoughts started to plague his mind once again but he managed to push them back enough so he could sleep. He knew he’s need it since he’s had a restful sleep the previous night and there was a thunderstorm in the forecast for that afternoon. It was supposed to last all afternoon and into the evening so he probably wouldn’t get much sleep anyways.

 

**…**

 

Finn Hofferson stopped the car just outside the Haddock household at around ten-fourty that morning. Astrid looked out the window at the gray sky. In the distance she could see some darker clouds approaching, though they probably wouldn’t be there until after noon. She turned back to her uncle and gave him a small hug.

 

“I’ll see you later.” she said with a smile before exiting the car and closing the door behind her. Finn waved to her as he drove off, which she returned and turned towards the house. 

 

In the cloudy morning she could see the living room lights and upper hallway light were on. But Hiccups lights remained off. Either he was downstairs or hiding himself away in his room. She hoped it was the first option. He was hiding something, bottling it up and refusing to vent it out to anyone. She felt that talking about what happened, as much as she didn’t want to, helped relieve the strong, unpleasant thoughts and emotions that came with it. She knew it, Hiccup refused to even try. But that was her goal today. To get him to open up about what was wrong so that he could make a healthier recovery, mentally and physically.

 

She walked up to the door and before she could even ring the doorbell, Stoick had already opened the front door for her, smiling happily.

 

“Morning, Astrid!” he said happily. He stepped out of the way and let the slightly startled teen into the house. “How are you this morning?” 

 

“I’m doing good.” she replied and stepped in, taking her shoes off on the mat next to the closet. “How about you?” she asked in return.

 

“Good, good.” he replied closing the door and stepping towards the kitchen. “As well as we can be with everything that’s going on at the moment.” He sat down at the kitchen table, picked up a pen and continuing a note. “We have to go out and get some groceries today. I’m assuming Hiccup would prefer to stay at home. Would you two be okay by yourselves for an hour or two?”

 

“Yeah,” she replied. “We should be fine.”  _ Until the storm comes in that is.  _ A thought then occurred to her. “What about Tommy? Is he going with you?” she asked.

 

Stoick nodded. “Yes, he is. He wants to get some… camera-thing.” he said, waving his hand around trying to think of the right word.

 

“I need a new battery. The old one got slightly damaged and won’t stay charged for very long.” Tommy stated from the living room where he was still watching TV.

 

Astrid nodded in understanding, not moving from her spot in the front hall. “I’m assuming Hiccup is upstairs?” she said, gesturing to the stairs with her thumb. 

 

Stoick nodded. “He’s probably just reading or fiddling around on his computer.” he said. “You can go on up if you’d like.”

 

“Just don’t wake him if he’s sleeping.” Valka added with a small smile. “He needs his rest.”

 

Astrid smiled as a response before heading up the stairs, carefully as her socks slipped on the hardwood as she sped up. She wanted to spend as much time with his as she could, not only for his sake but her own as well. Hiccup was the only one who truly understood what had happened to them down there, they weren’t quite the same people anymore.

 

She made it to the top of the stairs and walked towards Hiccup’s bedroom door. It was open ever so slightly and she could see out the window on the opposite side of the room. The darker clouds were rolling in slowly, still a ways away from reaching them. Taking a deep breath, Astrid pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was still as messy as it was the day before. Books and papers and clothes scattered across the floor and the desk. 

 

Hiccup was laying on the bed, facing the wall opposite the door. He wasn’t sleeping, more so thinking and resting his eyes. When he heard the door move, he turned towards it. He covered his eyes for a moment as the light from the hallway was much brighter than his room. Removing his hand he saw Astrid standing by the now closed door.

 

“Hey,” she greeted, walking over to sit on the bed. “How are you feeling?”

 

Hiccup shrugged, not meeting her eyes. “Mostly just tired I guess.” he said, which was partly the truth. “How ‘bout you?” he asked.

 

Astrid shrugged. “Same old.” she answered. She crawled across the bed to the other side where there was more room and sat down next to Hiccup, who remained lying down and turned to face her. 

 

He reached out for her hand, which she gladly took and intertwines their fingers. He looked at their hands, thinking about how to voice his thoughts in the silence they were now in. Astrid had her eyes on him, wondering if she should ask what he was thinking about or just enjoy the quiet moment.

 

Eventually, Hiccup spoke. “Astrid,” he began. “Can… can I ask you something?” he said hesitantly, like he was afraid to ask. When Astrid nodded, he continued. “Why do you, uh, why do you keep coming to see me everyday? I mean, it’s not like I don’t enjoy your company- I really do! It’s just, I’m curious on why you bother- not that I mind, that is.” He closed his mouth, realizing he had started rambling. 

 

Astrid chuckled at his nervousness. “Why else?” she asked. “I want to be there for you, Hiccup.” she said, now leaning down on her elbow and her free hand playing with his hair. “We both had to go through is something no one should ever experience in their life. We need each other because we  _ understand _ what happened like no one else does. I love you and I want to be there for you.”

 

At this point neither of them noticed how close they were to each other. Not that they cared. They both leaned towards each other ever so slightly, eyes closed, until their lips met. The kiss was short and sweet but full of emotion. A way of letting the other know how they felt without even needing words. When they pulled away, their foreheads nearly touching. 

 

“I love you.” Astrid whispered, resting her forehead against his.

 

Hiccup closed his eyes. As much as he wanted to admit how much he didn’t deserve her, he couldn’t. Not in that moment. “I love you too…” he replied. 

 

Astrid lay down next to him, her head on his shoulder and arms tightly around him. Hiccups eyes remained closed and he reached a hand up to grip her arm, a way of returning the hold she had on him in the position he was in. Astrid's eyed remained open, thinking. She knew something was wrong, but he wasn’t even making a move to open up, no matter how much she knew he had to.

 

“Hiccup,” she said after a moment of silence. “I know… I know something is bothering you. And I know you don’t want to tell me, or maybe even anybody at all but… you need to talk about it. It’s not just going to go away. I  _ know  _ whatever it is is hurting you and…” she sighed, pulling him impossibly closer. “It hurts to see you like this. When I remember how you were when you woke up and how you are now you… you aren’t the same person.”

 

Hiccup didn’t move or open his eyes. He just breathed a sigh and mumbled a quiet “I guess not.” under his breath. Astrid held him a moment longer, knowing she was getting nothing out of him at the moment, before sitting up and climbing off the bed. 

 

“Well, I don’t know about you but I’m a little hungry.” she said. “Want anything to eat?”

 

Hiccup shook his head. “Not really.” he replied. “But can you grab me something to drink? Please?” he asked.

 

She tucked a strand of her bangs behind her ear so she could see better before speaking. “What do want?”

 

He shrugged before giving her a small smile, showing off the small gap between his front teeth. “Surprise me.” he said simply.

 

Astrid smiled at that.  _ Now that’s more the Hiccup I know. _ “Alright.” she said and left the room.

 

She walked down the hall to the stairs before catching a glimpse of the sky through a window. It was a dark blue/gray, no blue or light gray poked through them. She took a shuddering breath before heading down the stairs towards the front door. Stoick, Valka and Tommy had already left, leaving the main floor empty and eerily quiet. She opened the front door slowly and poked her head outside. There was a breeze that blew the trees strongly despite how gentle it felt and a few leaves would break off and blow along the street as the clouds moves swiftly across the sky. In the all to near distance, a low rumble of thunder sounded, soon followed by a small flash and another rumble causing her heart to leap inside her chest.

  
The storm had arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta da! All caught up! Chapter 21 is in progress, will post asap! Also, I have a HTTYD instagram account called httyd.is.life, a HTTYD tumblr calls 22craftgirl AND a YouTube channel! Same name as my tumblr but it comes up as CraftGirl 22 instead of 22CraftGirl IDK why. See you next update!


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